by | Sep 27, 2017 8:44 pm | 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 »
by | Sep 8, 2017 4:09 pm | Medical Devices
The Deal of the Week (ended Sept. 8, 2017) is also the largest announced in the holiday-shortened work week. Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE: TFX) announced its first acquisition this year, paying $725 million upfront for privately held NeoTract, Inc. It marks a new focus for the medical device maker, whose previous buyouts concentrated in cardiovascular and microlaparoscopy surgical technologies. NeoTract is a medical device maker that has developed and commercialized the FDA-cleared UroLift System, a novel, minimally invasive technology for treating lower urinary tract symptoms due to benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH. Anyone who watches professional sports televised on Sunday afternoons... Read More »
by | Jul 21, 2017 1:55 pm | Laboratories, MRI & Dialysis, Medical Devices
Since February 2016, we’ve followed the testy merger between Abbott (NYSE: ABT) and Alere’s (NYSE: ALR) agreement to merge, followed by the respective lawsuits, and then the price renegotiation. Half way through 2017, the $5.3 billion deal is getting closer to completion, as Alere spins off some assets to comply with antitrust regulations. The first to go is Alere’s Triage® MeterPro cardiovascular (CV) and toxicology assets (“Triage business”), together with the B-type Naturietic Peptide (BNP) assay business run on Beckman Coulter analyzers (“BNP business”). The buyer is Quidel Corporation (NASDAQ: QDEL), which will acquire the Triage business, including real estate for the San... Read More »
by | Jul 14, 2017 4:11 pm | Medical Devices
The Medical Device sector has been humming. Granted, it comprises a huge range of things, from hip and knee joints to cardiovascular devices. Since 2016, 176 deals have been announced, and $102 billion has been committed based on 73 disclosed prices. Among the 176 deals, 14 target companies specialize in cardiovascular devices, 14 specialize in orthopedic and spine devices, 10 specialize in aesthetic devices each, and eight specialize in vascular devices, to name a few. The most recent deal, on July 10, was of a company that covered a very interesting niche of medical devices. ThermoGenesis Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cesca Therapeutics Inc., (NASDAQ: KOOL) acquired privately held... Read More »
by | Jul 14, 2017 4:01 pm | Behavioral Health Care, Biotechnology, eHealth, Home Health & Hospice, Hospitals, Laboratories, MRI & Dialysis, Long-Term Care, Managed Care, Medical Devices, Other Services, Pharmaceuticals, Physician Medical Groups, Rehabilitation
Health care merger and acquisition activity slowed in the second quarter of 2017. Compared with the first quarter of 2017, deal volume decreased 15%, to 366 transactions. Deal volume was also lower compared with the same quarter the year before, down 14%. Combined spending in the second quarter reached $95.8 billion, an increase of 62% compared with the $59.1 billion spent in the previous quarter, according to HealthCareMandA.com. Second quarter deal value was up 8% compared with the $88.7 billion spent in Q2:16. Health care services transactions accounted for 52% of the second quarter’s dollar volume, much higher than the 14% share reported in the first quarter, and the 19% share recorded... Read More »
by | Jul 7, 2017 6:40 pm | Behavioral Health Care, Biotechnology, eHealth, Home Health & Hospice, Hospitals, Laboratories, MRI & Dialysis, Long-Term Care, Managed Care, Medical Devices, Other Services, Pharmaceuticals, Physician Medical Groups, Rehabilitation
Preliminary data for the month of June shows that investors are still bullish—or at least comfortable—betting on health care. Some 123 transactions were announced last month, an 11% decrease compared with May’s 138 transactions. Year over year, however, this early data is just 5% below the 130 deals announced in June 2016. For a little perspective, April 2017’s deal volume was just 104 transactions, which made the May numbers look very strong by comparison. June’s deal volume looks reassuringly healthy, as it is close to the year-ago total, and could be adjusted upward in the future as more deals come to light. The same trends we’ve noted in previous months are still playing out, too. Deal... Read More »