Since our inception, Alaris Royalty Corp. has had a very clear business plan. Our objective each year is to obtain low volatility cash flow streams while at the same time increase our diversification and distributable cash per share. Combining high dividend yield, earnings growth and lower risk is never an easy task for any company but we have created an innovative business structure designed to deliver all three of these attributes. In this, our third full year as a public company, I am pleased to report that we have been able to produce those benefits to our shareholders and more importantly, we have put ourselves in a position to expand on our business plan going forward.
We have a unique model of purchasing preferred equity in the business of private companies, with such preferred equity paying us monthly distributions that are reset annually based on "top line" results. This has allowed our company to post strong returns even through the past two years of economic turmoil. Equally important, our Private Company Partners have also benefited greatly from our structure. The entrepreneurs that own and operate our Private Company Partners on a day-to-day basis are able to operate and grow their business with a truly silent partner while retaining: (a) full voting control of their businesses; (b) the majority of the growth upside; and (c) the flexibility to have future growth, acquisition or partial liquidity events funded by Alaris. Our current partners continue to be tremendous examples and our strongest advocates as we expand our company.
2010 in Review
2010 started out with the overhang of the worldwide recession still negatively influencing the capital markets and the companies that drive our economy. In our market niche of providing capital to successful private companies, the selection of "best in class" companies to partner with was limited as many of these companies strategically decided to defer expansion or liquidity decisions until the economy and the capital markets improved. This situation greatly improved through the course of 2010 and we are now in a position to grow more aggressively with a higher quality selection of profitable, low volatility, low debt carrying companies to choose from.
Our growth started in May with the addition of the KMH Limited Partnership ("KMH"). KMH operates out of Mississauga, Ontario and is a leader in the medical diagnostic field, specializing in nuclear cardiology and MRI tests. Alaris contributed $5 million to KMH and expects to increase that involvement significantly in the coming years as the management of KMH identifies more diagnostic acquisition opportunities across North America. The medical diagnostic business is a good fit to our business model as it has the ability to provide low volatility cash flow as well as growth.
In December, we formed a material new partnership, contributing $32.5 million to Solowave Design Limited Partnership ("Solowave"). Based in Mount Forest, Ontario, Solowave is a world leader in the design and manufacture of residential backyard play centers. Solowave represents exactly what we look for in a new partner - in an industry that admittedly we would not typically have considered. Solowave is a leader in its industry, making a very simple product that has been around for a long time and will remain an important product for consumers in the future. One of the benefits of the 2008-2009 recession was that it allowed us to see the strength of companies during one of the most difficult periods in the last 80 years. Despite the fact that Solowave's business centered around doing business in a consumer discretionary product, Solowave was able to grow rapidly and profitably through the recession. Solowave has very little debt, a small requirement for capital expenditures and our first year's distribution from Solowave of $5 million is just a small percentage of its historical free cash flow. We look forward to expanding our partnership with Solowave with further contributions that would be based on Solowave's already promising fiscal 2011 results.
The impact of these new partnerships, in addition to a further contribution in 2010 to our largest partner, LifeMark Health Limited Partnership ("LifeMark"), was substantial to us. During 2010, we were able to increase our dividends twice by a combined total of 21.4%. We also improved our diversification through the addition of the two different businesses, and we also improved our future growth outlook by adding partners that will look for further contributions from us in the future. At the same time, we also improved liquidity in our shares as a result of two very successful bought deal financings that were used to finance our two new partnerships.
The first half of 2011 has seen two very large developments for our company. For the first time in our seven year history, one of our Partners was acquired by another company. LifeMark was acquired by Centric Health Corporation ("CHH" - TSX) in a transaction that resulted in Alaris receiving $65 million in cash in exchange for half of our combined holdings in LifeMark and MEDIChair. While the gain for Alaris shareholders was significant, I was particularly pleased to show the market the full benefits of the Alaris structure to private company entrepreneurs. Because LifeMark management were able to grow with our continuous acquisition capital, they were able to triple the size of the company over a six year period all while actually increasing their percentage economic interest each year. I'm not aware of any other equity provider where that would have been the case and we are extremely pleased for the LifeMark management team and thank them for their contribution to our success over the past six years. We also look forward to a bright future with Centric as this remains our largest asset going forward.
In receiving $65 million in cash from the partial sale of LifeMark, Alaris management was tasked to replace the revenue that was sold and we were able to do that in short order. We announced the investment of $27.25 million into Killick Limited Partnership less than a month after the closing of LifeMark and combined with the savings of having paid down all of our corporate debt, the investment not only diversified our revenue stream into a new sector, it replaced all of the earnings that had been sold. Killick is in the very steady, highly regulated maintenance, repair and overhaul business for airplane engines. The $4.3 million of distributions we are obliged to receive in the first year represents an attractive yield for Alaris while being a prudently small portion of Killick's total free cash flow. This distribution also comes with a collar such that it cannot go up or down by more than 6% in any one year. This kind of low volatility revenue stream will greatly benefit our portfolio going forward and we are very pleased to be partnering with a very successful management and ownership group in Killick.
The Path Forward
We look forward to another profitable year at Alaris. Each of our six private company partners continues to be strong and should contribute to organic growth in our distributable cash per share over the next twelve months. Just as importantly, our pipeline of potential new partnerships is robust and we expect to continue our business plan of reducing risk and increasing our earnings per share through the addition of new partners.
As we have increased our size, liquidity and stature within the public market community, our cost of capital has decreased considerably over the past twelve months. Going forward, this gives our shareholders a tremendous opportunity to see accretive new partnerships contribute to growing distributable cash per share. Historically, funds have been contributed to our partnerships at a first year cash return of approximately 16%. Compare this to the current dividend yield on our shares of approximately 8% and it is easy to see why we have been able to increase our dividends and what our plans are for the future.
It is important to recognize the people that have contributed to the success of Alaris. First off, I'd like to recognize and thank the staff at Alaris. This has been a very busy year for a small group of employees. This is a group that takes great pride in generating the returns that we have had over the past six years and I thank you for making every day not just profitable but a joy to be with as well. I'd also like to thank our board of directors who continue to be an invaluable asset for the management team as we build out a business model that has never, to our knowledge, been done before. I'd also like to recognize the effort and vision of the management teams that run our tremendously successful private company partners. I look forward to many years of profitable growth as your financial partner. Finally I would like to thank our shareholders who have continued to support us as we have expanded our business through new share offerings. Needless to say, we would not be able to execute our business plan if not for our individual investors, portfolio managers, investment dealers, lawyers, accountants and others that help make these transactions happen.
I look forward to keeping all of you busy in the year to come.
Steve King 
President and Chief Executive Officer