March 2016’s Biggest Health Care Deals

by | Apr 13, 2016 8:29 am | Other Services, Pharmaceuticals, Private Equity | 0 comments

Health care companies are still attracting buyers, and those in the services sectors seem to be the hottest. Last month saw healthy deal volume, at 134 transactions. For a year that started slowly for health care mergers and acquisitions, March 2016’s deal volume is only 3% lower than the same month a year ago. Industry sources have noted the dearth of deals across many industries going into March, even though some uncertainties that troubled markets earlier this year, such as China’s economic slow down, haven’t occupied center stage recently. Leverage is not an overwhelming concern, but credit has tightened over the past few months. And with the new, more onerous federal rules regarding... Read More »

Biotech M&A in 2015

by | Aug 21, 2015 7:30 pm | Behavioral Health Care | 0 comments

Last Friday, the Biotech sector, represented by the Nasdaq Biotechnology index (NASDAQ: IBB), officially entered a correction phase, based on a 14% drop in valuations since July 20. That could put a damper on a sector that’s seen tremendous M&A activity in 2015, with 117 deals announced so far (vs. 136 total in 2014), and nearly $40 billion in spending (well up from the $21 billion spent in 2014). While the AbbVie’s (NYSE: ABBV) $21 billion takeover of Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC) has a lot to do with the large total, billion-dollar deals haven’t been uncommon. Take a look. TargetAcquirerPrice PharmacyclicsAbbVie$21.0 billion NPS PharmaceuticalsShire plc$5.2 billion... Read More »

March Healthcare M&A Madness

by | Mar 30, 2015 2:37 pm | Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals | 0 comments

March isn’t quite over as we write this, and neither is the madness—which won’t stop us from posting the biggest deals of the month. As of Friday, March 27, $34.4 billion has been committed to finance about 105 transactions. Of course, $21 billion of that comes from the AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) acquisition of Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC). Next week, preliminary Q1:15 results! Read More »

Year’s Biggest Billion-Dollar Deals Top $64 Billion

by | Mar 16, 2015 8:16 pm | Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals | 0 comments

Already in 2015, we’ve recorded 11 billion-dollar-plus deals, for a total of $64.4 billion. Thanks to the $21 billion AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) bid for Pharmacyclics (NASDAQ: PCYC), the biotechnology sector accounted for $27.5 billion of those big deals. Pharmaceuticals, with four billion-plus transactions, still ranks first, with combined spending of $30.45 billion.  Read More »

AbbVie Wins Pharmacyclics

by | Mar 9, 2015 7:33 pm | Pharmaceuticals | 0 comments

Everybody hates a winner, it seems. Last week’s announcement that AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) won the bidding war for Pharmacyclics Inc. (NASDAQ: PCYC) had many analysts shaking their heads in disbelief. The consternation was over the price, which at $261.25 per share for PCYC came to approximately $21 billion, about 27.8x revenue and 165.6x EBITDA. The real prize for AbbVie is Imbruvica, an effective treatment against a form of leukemia and other diseases that Pharmacyclics is marketing under an agreement with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ). J&J and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) were also in the final round of bidders. AbbVie’s shares fell nearly 6% on March 5, the day after the announcement,... Read More »