Ten of the largest deals announced in the third quarter broke the $1.0 billion mark, for a total of $29.9 billion (70% of the quarter’s total spending of $42.7 billion).
The largest transaction, Gilead Sciences’ $11.9 billion acquisition of biotech firm Kite Pharma, made up 28% of the quarter’s combined total spending.
KKR & Co. made three of these billion-dollar acquisitions, either directly or through portfolio companies, for a total of nearly $7.3 billion. All three targets were publicly traded companies in very discrete fields: internet healthcare source WebMD, air ambulance company American Medical Response, and the institutional pharmacy services company PharMerica.
This is the first quarter since Q4:12 in which a Pharmaceutical deal did not appear in the top-10 transactions. Pharma deals have dried up, as have their prices.
| Acquirer Name | Acquirer Listing | Target | Target Listing | Price | Target Sector |
| Gilead Sciences, Inc. | NASDAQ: GILD | Kite Pharma, Inc. | NASDAQ: KITE | $11,905,000,000 | Biotechnology |
| Centene Corporation | NYSE: CNC | Fidelis Care | Nonprofit | $3,750,000,000 | Managed Care |
| Internet Brands | NYSE: KKR | WebMD Health Corp. | NASDAQ: WBMD | $3,564,865,346 | eHealth |
| Air Medical Group Holdings, Inc. | NYSE: KKR | American Medical Response, Inc. | NYSE: EVHC | $2,400,000,000 | Other Services |
| Fresenius Medical Care | NYSE: FMS | NxStage Medical, Inc. | NASDAQ: NXTM | $1,973,300,800 | Medical Devices |
| Ares Management L.P. | NYSE: ARES | DuPage Medical Group | Private | $1,450,000,000 | Physician Medical Groups |
| KKR & Co. L.P. | NYSE: KKR | PharMerica Corporation | NYSE: PMC | $1,327,693,988 | Other Services |
| Optum | NYSE: UNH | The Advisory Board | NASDAQ: ABCO | $1,300,000,000 | Other Services |
| Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings | NYSE: LH | Chiltern | Private | $1,200,000,000 | Other Services |
| CooperSurgical Inc. | NYSE: COO | Rights to PARAGARD® | NYSE: TEVA | $1,100,000,000 | Medical Devices |
Source: HealthCareMandA.com, October 2017