The pace of health care mergers and acquisitions slowed considerably in January 2016. In part, that’s due to the rush to get business off the books by the end of the calendar year, which is why fourth quarters are usually so busy. This year we’ve counted about 95 transactions announced in January, which is 32% lower than December 2015’s total, and 29% below January 2014.
Thanks to Shire plc‘s (NASDAQ: SHPG) $32 billion deal for Baxalta Inc. (NYSE: BXLT), spending in the month handily beat those previous months. But who would’ve thought a behavioral health care deal would rank as the month’s second largest deal? Check out the chart below. We’ll have more in the February issue of Health Care M&A News, so stay tuned.
| Acquirer | Target | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Shire plc | Baxalta Inc. | $32 billion |
| Acadia Healthcare Company | Priory Group | $2.2 billion |
| Thermo Fisher Scientific | Affymetrix Inc. | $1.3 billion |
| Charles River Laboratories | WIL Research | $585 million |
| Select Medical Holdings | Physiotherapy Associates Holdings | $400 million |
