Behavioral Health Care Market Is Healthy, Not Frothy

The Behavioral Health Care M&A market has enjoyed six years of strong growth, following passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The market peaked at 41 deals announced in 2016, with $3.4 billion in combined spending. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the ACA’s replacement, merger and acquisition activity is still strong in the early months of 2017. Tailwinds are stronger than headwinds. Destigmatization of addictions, mental health issues and other disorders has brought attention to the care needed by millions. There is still significant, unmet need in many sub-sectors, such as acute care psychiatric beds. De novo building is easing some of that need, and could lead to more... Read More »

December 2016 Didn’t Deliver a Year-End Boost

The final month of the fourth quarter is typically a busy one for deal makers in all industries. Last year, some health care deal makers apparently got a rest. Deal volume in December 2016 was an anemic 119 transactions, compared with 131 deals in November and 148 in December 2015. The Services sectors accounted for 55% of the deals in December, which is on the low side. Consider that, in November, Services accounted for 69% of the month’s transactions, and even 70% of the total in December 2015. Spending on those deals reached $15.4 billion, a relatively modest amount until it is compared with November’s $8.7 billion total (+78%) and December 2015’s $12.3 billion total (+26%). Suddenly,... Read More »

Universal Health Makes Another U.K. Purchase

We’ve seen a lot of companies divesting non-core assets lately. Sometimes the reason is regulatory approval purposes, and other times the company simply wants to focus exclusively on a different business unit. In the latter case, Cambian Group plc (LSE: CMBN) is looking to expand its children services unit. Cambian Group provides specialist behavioral health services to adults and children in the United Kingdom. In December it announced it is divesting its adult services division, Cambian Adult Services Group. The division, which provides care to adults with mental health disorders, intellectual disabilities, autism, personality disorder and acquired brain conditions, consists of 81... Read More »