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Kroger Gobbles Up ModernHEALTH

Specialty pharmacy deals are usually few and far between. But this year, we’ve seen six deals announced in the first seven months. The most recent is from Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), the giant food and consumer goods retailer. Kroger acquired Modern HC Holdings, the parent company of ModernHEALTH, and plans to merge it with its own specialty pharmacy subsidiary, Axium Pharmacy Holdings. Financial terms were not disclosed. Specialty pharmacy ModernHEALTH has been a portfolio company of Altamont Capital Partners since July 2012, and has grown considerably with Altamont’s help. As Modern Healthcare, the company served customers with complex pharmaceutical therapies, including HIV,... Read More »

Managed Care Mega-Deals Not Too Big to Fail

2015 is about to lose even more of its M&A luster, it seems. Some $91 billion is about to disappear from the record-setting spending on healthcare M&A, thanks to the potential unraveling of two managed care mega-mergers. Bloomberg is reporting that the U.S. Department of Justice plans to file lawsuits seeking to halt the mergers of Aetna (NYSE: AET) and Humana (NYSE: HUM) for $37 billion, and Anthem (NYSE: ANTM) with Cigna (NYSE: CI), for $54.2 billion. For healthcare M&A wonks, 2015 set new records in deal volume, with more than 1,500 deals, and deal value, at $397 billion. The dollar total would have been even higher, at $564 billion, if Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) hadn’t walked... Read More »

Ambulance Companies Speed Up Consolidation

2015 was a big year for medical transportation companies to combine, as six transactions were throughout the year. Halfway through 2016, three more deals have been announced. The most recent involves two Texas companies. Allegiance Mobile Health in Georgetown, Texas serves a population of more than 15 million around the state. In July it acquired San Antonio-based Gemini Ambulance Service, which provides local medical transportation services. In June, Air Medical Group Holdings, a portfolio company of KKR & Co., paid an undisclosed amount for California Shock Trauma Air Rescue (CALSTAR), which operated as a not-for-profit organization at the time. CALSTAR served the entire state of... Read More »

June 2016 M&A Results Show Strength

Uncertainty is the hobgoblin of the merger and acquisition markets, and the month of June was a high point (or low point, depending on your perspective) for anxiety in global financial markets. Still, the healthcare deals kept rolling in. Our preliminary total for June 2016 stands at 115 transactions, exactly equal with the same month a year ago. Compared with May’s total of 141 deals, though, June’s total does look as if someone is applying the brakes. It takes 12 months to make a year, though, and one month’s results do not create a trend. The digital health sector turned in the strongest gain compared with June 2015, when only two deals were announced. This June, 22 deals were announced... Read More »

Q2:16 Results Defy Brexit and Other Uncertainties

You’ve seen the headlines: Global mergers and acquisitions slid in the first half of 2016, as did the combined value. The number of middle market deals completed in the second quarter fell to levels not seen since 2009. Buyers are walking away from targets that could be affected by sudden changes in tax regulations. It’s all thanks to Brexit and the U.S. presidential election. Then there’s the healthcare market. Deal volume actually increased compared with the previous quarter in 2016, and the same quarter a year ago. Deal volume for Q2:16 reached 396 announced transactions, up 11% versus Q1:16’s 358 deals, and 15% higher than last year’s 344 deals in the second quarter. For the first half... Read More »

Bravo to Healthcare Cyber-Security

Thoma Bravo, LLC, a leading private equity investment firm is certainly investing in the future with its latest acquisition of Imprivata® (NYSE: IMPR), a Massachusetts-based healthcare IT security company. Imprivata®’s technology enables healthcare organizations worldwide to access, communicate and transact patient information securely while also addressing critical compliance and security challenges. Thoma Bravo paid approximately $544 million for the company. As healthcare continues to go paperless, the need for strong and compliant security technology coupled with ease of access will only continue to grow. Read More »

Cells Sell…to GE At Least

GE Healthcare, a subsidiary of GE (NYSE:GE), recently announced that it had acquired a privately-held Sweden-based company, Biosafe Group SA, a developer, manufacturer and supplier of products for cell processing in the areas of adult stem cell banking. The combined biological, engineering and industrial capabilities should advance cell therapy and cellular immunotherapy GE’s interest in cellular research is not new. In January 2016, GE Ventures completed a $31.5 million co-investment with the Canadian government to create the BridGE@CCRM Cell Therapy Centre of Excellence in order to promote new technologies for the product of new cellular therapies in Toronto. Then, in April, GE Ventures... Read More »

Recent Health Care Deals, week ending 07.08.2016

AcquirerTargetPrice Bio-Techne Corporation Advanced Cell Diagnostics$250 million Merit Medical Systems, Inc.DFINE, Inc.$97.5 million Bristol-Myers SquibbCormorant Pharmaceuticals AB$95 million Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.License to Cx601$27.7 million Advantage Benefit SolutionsCollins Benefits Solutions,... Read More »

Bristol-Myers adds to immuno-oncology portfolio

On July 5, 2016, Bristol-Myers Squibb (NASDAQ: BMY) acquired the privately-held, Sweden-based Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB for $95 million. The driver behind this acquisition was gaining full rights to Cormorant’s HuMax-IL8 antibody program, which may result in an additional $425 million in development and regulatory milestone payments. Cormorant had acquired HuMax-IL8 from GenMab A/S in 2012 and has since taken it into development. It is a phase 1/2 monoclonal antibody that offers the potential to boost immune response and increase the effectiveness of existing cancer medicines through combination therapy. The addition of HuMax-IL8 enhances BMY’s existing pipeline of clinical candidates... Read More »