2017 Biggest Healthcare Deals by Sector

2017 was another big year for billion-dollar healthcare transactions. Among the deals that disclosed prices, 44 topped the billion-dollar mark, for a total of approximately $263.1 billion. Although that number seems high, there were 50 billion-dollar deals announced in 2015, although those totaled a slightly lower $240.1 billion. 2016 posted lower totals for both the number of billion-dollar deals (39) and combined prices ($194.1 billion). Of course the biggest healthcare deal in 2017 was the $77 billion acquisition of Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) by CVS Health (NYSE: CVS). But there were many more sizable transactions across the sectors, as the chart below illustrates. See how many you remember... Read More »
Stryker Buys Entellus Medical

Stryker Buys Entellus Medical

Deals for medical device companies in 2017 are keeping pace with the previous year’s deal volume, more or less. With two weeks left in the year, 107 transactions in the Medical Device category have been announced and about $48.0 billion in spending. Deal volume is 5% lower than the 113 transactions announced for all of 2016 in this sector. The dollar volume is 22% lower than last year’s $61.8 billion. The latest deals announced in December include Stryker Corp.’s (NYSE: SYK) $709.6 million acquisition of Entellus Medical (NASDAQ: ENTL), a global medical technology company focused on delivering superior patient and physician experiences through products designed for the... Read More »
Stryker Buys Entellus Medical

Merit Medical Scores Assets from BD and Bard

Just after the release of the third quarter results, Merit Medical Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MMSI) announced an asset purchase agreement with two of its competitors. Merit has made two other similar acquisitions in 2017. The company entered into an asset purchase agreement with Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE: BDX) and C.R. Bard, Inc. (NYSE: BCR) to acquire various assets in relation to BD’s $24 billion acquisition of C.R. Bard, announced on April 23, 2017. The acquired assets include soft tissue core needle biopsy products currently sold by BD under the trade names of Achieve™ Programmable Automatic Biopsy System, Temno™ Biopsy System and Tru-Cut™ Biopsy Needles, which are currently sold... Read More »

CryoLife Misses Q3 Revenues, Buys JOTEC

Third quarter earnings season is off to a bad start for Cryolife, Inc. (NYSE:CRY), maker of medical devices and tissue processing systems focused on cardiac and vascular surgery. CRY stock slumped on Wednesday, October 11, when the company reported Q3 revenues of $45.1 million, well below its previously announced guidance of $46.5 million to $47.5 million. Not even an acquisition turned the stock northward, and it stayed down about 16% throughout the day. On October 10, Cryolife announced the acquisition of German medical device developer JOTEC AG, which makes technologically differentiated endovascular stent grafts, and cardiac and vascular surgical grafts, focused on... Read More »
Deal of the Week: Boston Scientific/Apama

Deal of the Week: Boston Scientific/Apama

Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) announced its second acquisition of the year, targeting privately held Apama Medical Inc. in a deal for $175 million. That’s small potatoes compared with its previously announced deal for Symetis SA, the Swiss maker of transcatheter aortic valve implantation devices, for $435 million. The Apama transaction consists of $175 million in cash up-front and a maximum of $125 million in contingent payments over the period of 2018-2020 based on achievements of clinical and regulatory milestones. Based in California, Apama Medical is developing radiofrequency balloon catheter system for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). AF, a heart rhythm... Read More »
Deal of the Week: Boston Scientific/Apama

Deal of the Week: Shandong Weigao/Argon Medical Devices

In the first nine months of 2017, Chinese investment in U.S. healthcare companies rose 300% compared with all of 2016. Shandong Weigao Group (1066.HK), a Chinese developer of single-use medical devices, announced its acquisition of Texas-based Argon Medical Devices on September 24, marking the 12th acquisition by a Chinese company in 2017. Shandong agreed to pay $850 million for a 90% stake in the privately-held medical device maker.  Argon develops, manufactures and sells devices for interventional radiology, vascular surgery, interventional cardiology, and critical care procedures, including biopsy products, drainage catheters and systems that remove blood clots. The company... Read More »