Biotechnology CROs Are Trading Again

Two contract research organizations (CROs) have changed hands in the past two weeks. On March 17, Hamburg, Germany-based IPM Biotech was acquired by BioAgilytix, a portfolio company of Riverside Partners, in Durham, North Carolina. As its name implies, IPM Biotech specializes in biotech research, specifically in large molecule bioanalysis in the area of immunogenicity. The transaction expands BioAgilytix’s global footprint with IPM’s newly planned GLP and GMB laboratory facility. Its services complement IPM’s rich immunogenicity, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics expertise. Less than a week later, LakePharma, Inc., a CRO in Belmont, California, acquired Blue Sky... Read More »

Two For-Profit Hospital Systems Merge

Two hospital chains that changed hands only last year announced their merger on March 22. RegionalCare Health Partners Inc., based in Brentwood, Tennessee, and Capella Healthcare, Inc., located in nearby Franklin, will form RCCH Health Partners when the deal closes in the second quarter. The combined system will have 18 hospital campuses in 12 states with more than 13,000 employees, 2,000 affiliated physicians and $1.7 billion in revenue. Only last July, Capella Healthcare was sold by GTCR to Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (MPT) and Capella management for approximately $900 million. In November, Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO) paid an undisclosed price for RegionalCare, which was then... Read More »

Canon Buys Toshiba Medical Systems

Two companies, two strategic plans. That’s what brought Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ) together with Toshiba Corp. (OTCQB: TOSYY) in a deal to acquire Toshiba’s medical device business. Toshiba, which makes laptops, home appliances, nuclear power equipment and more, somehow deemed Toshiba Medical Systems as a non-core asset and decided to sell. For its part, Canon decided earlier this year to diversify beyond cameras and copiers. Canon will pay approximately $5.9 billion for Toshiba Medical Systems, which includes diagnostic imaging systems such as MRI, X-ray and ultrasound equipment. Read More »

Envision Healthcare Pays Big for Large Doc Group

Five hundred clinical providers constitutes a big physician practice, and Envision Healthcare Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EVHC) just paid approximately $120 million for one. The target is Emergency Physicians Medical Group of Ann Arbor, Michigan, whose providers staff 37 facilities in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa and Delaware. The group is expected to bring in approximately $140 million in annual revenue, which works out to a modest 0.9x revenue and a moderately pricey $240,000 per provider. EPMG clinicians manage nearly 1 million patient encounters annually in emergency and hospital medicine departments as well as urgent care centers across the Midwest. It also operates community... Read More »