A few final deals are still rolling in for the last month of 2019, and it seems like the Laboratories, MRI & Dialysis sector fared well. Deal count was down from Q4 2018, 14 this quarter compared to a total of 19 in Q4 2019. However, dollar volume is higher, buoyed by a few large transactions.
Cinven and Astorg, two private equity firms, teamed up for the largest transaction of the sector in Q4, purchasing LGC Group for roughly $3.88 billion, according to a report in Private Equity News. LGC provides a range of measurement tools, proficiency testing schemes, supply chain assurance standards, and specialty genomics reagents to the life sciences industry in over 22 countries. KKR (NYSE: KKR) acquired LGC in 2015 for $989 million, so the PE firm made a healthy return on its investment.
FUJIFILM Corporation (OTCMKTS: FUJIY) closed out the quarter with another high-value transaction, purchasing Hitachi, Ltd.‘s (OTCMKTS: HTHIF) global diagnostic imaging-related business for $1.65 billion, or JPY 179 billion. The business, based in Tokyo, provides a comprehensive suite of products including CT, MRI, X-ray and ultrasound systems.
Prior to this acquisition, Hitachi formed a new company that absorbed its diagnostic imaging-related business, which became the target in this deal. FUJIFILM hopes to leverage its proprietary image processing and AI technologies and resources to expand under the “ReiLI” brand name, building upon its own global presence.
Based on preliminary numbers, the Laboratories, MRI & Dialysis sector remained steady last year, matching last year’s deal volume of 48 deals so far, according to Deal Search Online. But prices are way up. In 2018, there was a total dollar volume of $1.68 billion. For 2019, our total so far is $10.14 billion. Including the aforementioned pair of deals, four billion-dollar deals pushed the number up. In July, Exact Sciences Corp. (NYSE: EXAS) purchased Genomic Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: GHDX) for $2.8 billion, and in January, Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO) sold its anatomical pathology business to PHC Holdings Corporation for $1.14 billion.
