It’s been a superlative year for health care M&A overall, and private equity firms have made a significant contribution. With two (busy) weeks left to go in 2015, PE buyers have announced 129 deals, and that’s not including all the portfolio companies that were building their platforms in the various sectors. Below are some preliminary stats we’ve put together on PE activity in 2015.
Private equity buyers account for 9% of the present deal volume of 1,395 transactions, which is typical in recent years. Deal value is a less substantial measure of PE activity, because the majority of deals don’t disclose financial terms. As of December 17, $9.1 billion has been committed to finance just 55 of those 129 transactions. Given the outsized totals of a handful of transactions this year (i.e., $160 billion for the Pfizer/Allergan hookup, $54.2 billion for the Anthem/Cigna deal), $9.1 billion is only 2% of the current total of more than $560 billion.
Here are the sectors that were most popular with PE investors. We’ll have a more thorough breakout of PE activity in a few weeks, so watch this space.
Top Health Care Sectors for PE Deal Makers, 2015*
| Sector | Deal Volume | Deal Value |
|---|---|---|
| Long-Term Care | 48 | $1.15 billion |
| Other Services | 29 | $4.29 billion |
| eHealth | 11 | $5.5 million |
| Medical Devices | 9 | $1.22 billion |
| *= through Dec. 17 |