Leap Day Boosts February Deal Volume

by | Mar 4, 2016 9:27 pm | Behavioral Health Care, Biotechnology, eHealth, Hospitals, Laboratories, MRI & Dialysis, Long-Term Care, Managed Care, Medical Devices, Other Services, Pharmaceuticals, Physician Medical Groups, Rehabilitation

It’s Leap Year, which means February was a day longer in 2016. This year, that extra day marked the announcement of seven healthcare transactions, which raised the month’s total to a healthy 113 deals. The services sectors were more active than usual, and accounted for 65% of the total. Usually, the services side makes up about 55% to 60%. Dollar volume was healthy, too, at $27.7 billion. But given the records set in 2015, February’s dollar total ended up 35% below the same month a year ago. The deals may be getting smaller, but they’re still being made. Read More »

Software for Sleep Disorders Attracts $800 Million

by | Feb 24, 2016 8:05 am | eHealth, Medical Devices, Private Equity

Sleep-disordered breathing is big money. Anyone who has laid awake night after night beside a chronic snorer would pay just about anything for a bit of quiet, most likely. Enter ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD), which has built its business on medical devices to treat sleep-disordered breathing and respiratory care. The company has made several acquisitions over the years, predominently in the medical device sector (see chart below). Targets have ranged from the German firm MAP Medezin-Technologie, acquired in 2001, to the Chinese sleep-device maker Curative Medical, a more recent acquisition in 2015. Two recent transactions have focused on the digital side of healthcare delivery. ResMed paid an... Read More »

Another Billion-Dollar Stryker Deal

by | Feb 17, 2016 3:19 pm | Medical Devices, Private Equity

It’s been one-a-week for Stryker Corporation (NYSE: SYK). The medical device maker announced two deals in February, including one for $2.77 billion. That was for Madison Dearborn Partners’ portfolio company, Sage Products LLC, which makes and distributes disposable products aimed at reducing hospital-acquired infections, primarily in the ICU and Med/Surg unit. The third week in February brought another big announcement, the acquisition of Physio-Control International, Inc. for nearly $1.3 billion, from Bain Capital. Physio-Control makes and markets monitors, defibrillators and CPR-assist devices, as well as data management and support services. This acquisition complements... Read More »

CryoLife Refocuses on Cardiac Surgery Devices

by | Feb 12, 2016 4:09 pm | Medical Devices

Acquisitions often lead to divestitures, and that’s just what happened when CryoLife Inc. (NYSE: CRY) paid $130 million for privately held On-X Life Technologies Holdings, Inc. in December 2015. The medical device maker also processes and distributes implantable human tissues for use in cardiac and vascular surgeries, while On-X Life specializes in mechanical heart valve replacements. That deal strengthened CryoLife’s focus on aortic and mitral valve surgery, as it more than doubled the size of its U.S. cardiac sales force. That made its Hemodialysis Reliable Outflow Graft (HeRO) product line less vital to its core business, and so the HeRO product line was sold to Merit... Read More »

Stryker Strikes Two Deals in Two Weeks

by | Feb 10, 2016 8:42 pm | Medical Devices, Private Equity

Medical device maker Stryker Corporation (NYSE: SYK) announced its second deal in two weeks, buying the neurosurgery tools portfolio of Synergetics USA Inc. for an undisclosed sum. The portfolio consists of Synergetics’  Malis generator, Spetzler Malis disposable forceps, and Stryker’s existing Sonopet tips and RF generator. The products will complement Stryker’s neuro, spine and ear-nose-throat business, as well as expand its neurosurgical offerings. The first deal, announced on February 1, was Stryker’s nearly $2.8 billion acquisition of Sage Products, LLC, a portfolio company of Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC. Sage develops, manufactures and distributes... Read More »