Health care deal volume in last year’s fourth quarter set a record, with 356 transactions. In 2015, fourth quarter deal volume now equals that total, and will probably inch higher in the coming weeks as more deals come in and are added to the database. The upshot: We expect Q4:15 to set a new record, at least for fourth-quarter deal activity. (Last year’s momentum carried over to the first quarter of 2015, when 366 deals were announced, so Q4:15 isn’t an all-out record quarter.)
Spending in the fourth quarter did set a new record, for any previous quarter. Committed spending now stands at $201.9 billion for the last three months of 2015, up 1% compared with the third quarter’s astonishing $199.4 billion.
The services sectors carried the day in deal volume, posting 237 transactions, which account for two-thirds (67%) of the quarter’s activity. The technology sectors–biotech, ehealth, medical devices and pharmaceuticals–had an uncharacteristically poor showing, with 119 deals (33%). That’s 20% lower than the previous quarter’s 148 transactions in the technology segment.
As we said, these are preliminary numbers. The Health Care M&A Report for Q4:15 will be published around the end of this month (January 2016) with firmer data and much more analysis, by sector.
