Varian Spins Off Varex Imaging Systems

Varian Spins Off Varex Imaging Systems

A medical imaging company is born. Or, rather, another medical imaging company goes public. Varian Medical Systems Inc. (NYSE: VAR) paid $276 million for the medical imaging business of PerkinElmer (NYSE: PKI) back in December 2016. That business, based in Santa Clara, California, supplies flat panel x-ray detectors that serve as components for industrial, medical and dental x-ray imaging systems. That deal was part of Varian’s plan to spin off its Imaging Components business. That feat was accomplished in January 2017, with the launch of Varex Imaging Corporation (NASDAQ: VREX), with a market cap of $1.09 billion. Under the terms of the separation, Varian stockholders received 0.4... Read More »

December 2016 Didn’t Deliver a Year-End Boost

The final month of the fourth quarter is typically a busy one for deal makers in all industries. Last year, some health care deal makers apparently got a rest. Deal volume in December 2016 was an anemic 119 transactions, compared with 131 deals in November and 148 in December 2015. The Services sectors accounted for 55% of the deals in December, which is on the low side. Consider that, in November, Services accounted for 69% of the month’s transactions, and even 70% of the total in December 2015. Spending on those deals reached $15.4 billion, a relatively modest amount until it is compared with November’s $8.7 billion total (+78%) and December 2015’s $12.3 billion total (+26%). Suddenly,... Read More »