Reporters Notebook: 10th Annual ACG NY Healthcare Conference

Reporters Notebook: 10th Annual ACG NY Healthcare Conference

The ACG New York chapter held its annual healthcare conference at the Metropolitan Club on February 23, as always, on the last Thursday of the month. We attended, along with more than 400 others involved in the healthcare industry. The evening’s topic, “The 2016 Election and Healthcare: What You Need to Know,” was obviously the big draw. Moderator Michael Gaffin, Marwood Group’s political strategist and head of its Washington office, played his cards close to the vest during most of the panel, but did opine that the Republicans will be able to do whatever they want to the Affordable Care Act, because they’ve been talking about it so long. On the panel were... Read More »

KRG Capital Splits and Sells Vention Medical

Vention Medical Inc. has undergone some major changes this year, and it’s still the first quarter. Vention, a portfolio company of KRG Capital Partners, designs and manufactures complex medical devices and components used in interventional and minimally invasive surgical products. As of February 20th, its two core business units were sold to separate companies. Vention Medical consisted of the Advanced Technologies (Vention AT) business and a separate Device Manufacturing Services (Vention DMS) business, a contract manufacturing operation. Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ: NDSN) acquired Vention AT for $705 million in an all-cash transaction on February 20, 2017. This... Read More »

Steward Health Buys 8 Community Health Hospitals

It’s no secret that Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH) is selling off hospitals and medical office buildings to pay down its $15 billion debt. Its latest deal offloads eight hospitals with a total of 1,818 beds in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania to Steward Health Care LLC for an undisclosed price. The hospitals involved in this deal are Wuesthoff Health System-Melbourne (119 beds) in Melbourne, Wuesthoff Health System-Rockledge (298 beds) in Rockledge, and Sebastian River Medical Center (154 beds) all in Florida; ValleyCare Health System of Ohio, which consists of Northside Medical Center (355 beds) in Youngstown, and Trumbull Memorial Hospital (311 beds) and Hillside Rehabilitation... Read More »

REIT Deals for Hospitals Are Picking Up

Most acquisitions in the Hospital sector are made by another hospital or health system. In 2016, 59% of U.S. hospital acquirers were not-for-profit organizations, down from 65% in 2015 but still the majority. Lately, real estate investment trusts (REITs) have taken an interest in the hospital sector, where there seems to be no end to the supply of struggling standalone hospitals. Eight deals were announced by REITs in 2016, involving 19 hospitals, for a approximately $1.5 billion. Many of the target hospitals or systems were owned by private equity firms which wanted out. That was the case in September 2016, when Cerberus Capital Management sold off the real estate assets of its portfolio... Read More »
Telehealth Deals Dial Up in Early 2017

Telehealth Deals Dial Up in Early 2017

Three telehealth deals have been announced in the first six weeks of 2017, an indication that this sub-sector of digital health is on track to set a(nother) M&A record. In 2016, eight of these deals were announced, an increase of 100% compared with 2014 and 60% versus 2015. Telehealth is loosely defined as the use of technology to support long-distance clinical healthcare. Some examples include live video between a patient and healthcare provider, transmission of medical images to a specialist, and remote monitoring which allows patients and providers to track vitals and manage chronic conditions. On February 2nd, 2017, Specialists On Call, Inc., a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus... Read More »

CRO Deals Are Hot and About to Get Hotter

The need for outsourced research and development services has caused a huge increase in the number of deals for contract research organizations (CROs) and contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs).  In 2016, 36 acquisitions of CROs and CMOs were announced in 2016, a 157% increase from 2015’s total of 14 deals, according to data reported in the Health Care Services Acquisition Report, 2017. That pace is picking up. In the first six weeks of 2017, six CRO/CMO deals have been announced,with even more to come. Last week, Reuters reported that Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (NYSE: LH) is in talks to buy Pharmaceutical Product Development LLC (PPD), a portfolio company of Hellman &... Read More »