Digital Health Deals Sparked in 2016

Digital Health Deals Sparked in 2016

Virtually every aspect of the healthcare industry now relies on some form of technology or data to improve patient outcomes, reduce costs or readmissions, or to analyze masses of population health data in order to manage that population better. Even more pressing in 2017 is the need to secure all that data and technology. But that hasn’t slowed the pace of M&A one bit. Mergers and acquisitions in the digital health sector soared 23% in 2016, to 155 transactions, compared with 126 deals in 2015. Even more impressive, the sector posted its highest dollar volume ever, nearly $20.2 billion—a 226% increase versus 2015. However, a single mega-merger accounted for 64% of 2016’s dollar... Read More »

Q2:16 Results Defy Brexit and Other Uncertainties

You’ve seen the headlines: Global mergers and acquisitions slid in the first half of 2016, as did the combined value. The number of middle market deals completed in the second quarter fell to levels not seen since 2009. Buyers are walking away from targets that could be affected by sudden changes in tax regulations. It’s all thanks to Brexit and the U.S. presidential election. Then there’s the healthcare market. Deal volume actually increased compared with the previous quarter in 2016, and the same quarter a year ago. Deal volume for Q2:16 reached 396 announced transactions, up 11% versus Q1:16’s 358 deals, and 15% higher than last year’s 344 deals in the second quarter. For the first half... Read More »

Digital Health Deals Strike New Heights

The digital health sector is on fire in the first half of 2016. Through June 24 we’ve recorded 82 transactions with a business-to-business eHealth company as the target. Sixteen of those were announced in June alone. (We don’t cover consumer-facing health apps or social media platforms.) In the first half of 2015, just 60 deals were announced in this sector. The final tally was 123 eHealth deals for all of 2015, a new record. It’s no stretch of the imagination to think this sector could set another record for 2016. The eHealth market of today includes electronic health records, revenue cycle management and data analytics, various mobile health start-ups from patient... Read More »

Quintiles/IMS Merger Keeps Lab Sector Humming

Laboratories are big business, and they’re trading for very strong multiples these days. This year in particular, we’ve seen a lot of global M&A action around contract research organizations (CROs) and contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs). The most recent announcement was the all-stock merger of equals between Quintiles (NYSE: Q) and IMS Health Holdings (NYSE: IMS). First, the details. IMS Health shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.384 shares of Quintiles common stock for each share of IMS Health common stock. Upon completion, IMS shareholders will own approximately 51.4% of the shares of the combined company on a fully diluted... Read More »