Software for Sleep Disorders Attracts $800 Million

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

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

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

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 »

2015 Health Care M&A Beats All Records

It’s déjà vu all over again. 2014 was a record-breaker for health care M&A, with 1,317 transactions and spending at an astronomical $387 billion. Then 2015 came and went and, once again, we’re writing about a record-breaking number of transactions, 1,460 currently, and astronomical spending of $563 billion. Read More »