Hospital M&A: Bigger Isn’t Always Better

Hospital M&A: Bigger Isn’t Always Better

That was the week that was. Two huge hospital mergers came to an end, one successfully and the other, not. In announcing the end results, CEOs involved in those deals each emphasized their goal was not about “getting bigger,” but to deliver better health care to more patients. Seriously, what CEO is going to say they just need more facilities to boost the bottom line and don’t care about patients? First, the deal that crossed the finish line. For 15 months, Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health negotiated the details of the definitive agreement they signed in December 2017. The deal closed on February 1, creating one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in the country with... Read More »
FastMed Plus NextCare Equals Urgent Care Giant

FastMed Plus NextCare Equals Urgent Care Giant

Consolidation continues in the urgent care services sector, as consumers and healthcare provider organizations look for lower-cost services outside hospital walls. One of the largest deals in this area in 2018 is FastMed Urgent Care’s acquisition of NextCare Holdings Inc., a portfolio company of Alcentra Capital Corp. since 2016. FastMed, the business name for Urgent Care Holdings of America, LLC, is backed by Abry Partners and BlueMountain Capital Management. The company owns and operates 110 clinics in Arizona, North Carolina and Texas. NextCare operates 141  facilities in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming. The... Read More »
The Top 10 Healthcare Deals of 2018. So Far

The Top 10 Healthcare Deals of 2018. So Far

It’s been a busy year for healthcare deal makers, and it’s not over yet. With slightly more than 1,700 deals announced as we went to press, this year’s deal volume has already surpassed 2017’s 1,607 total. Dollar volume is on par with last year’s total of $316.3 billion. At the moment, 2018’s spend stands at $316.9 billion. We will likely see a few more big deals in the remaining weeks of December, just as in December 2017. That was the month that CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) and Aetna (NYSE: AET) announced their $77 billion tie-up, Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health made their mega-merger public, Optum (NYSE: UNH) announced its $4.9 billion acquisition of DaVita Medical Group (NYSE:... Read More »
The Top 10 Healthcare Deals of 2018. So Far

Stat of the Week: Hospital M&A up 40% in Q4:17

Hospital M&A activity accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2017. The number of hospital acquisitions rose to 21 in the fourth quarter, up 40% from the 15 publicly announced acquisitions in the third quarter of 2017. Compared with the same quarter in 2016, which posted 23 transactions, activity was down 9%. None of the transactions disclosed a purchase price in the third quarter of 2017. Four of the deals disclosed prices, for a combined total of $2.82 billion. None of the transactions in the third quarter disclosed a price, although the fourth quarter of 2016 posted a total of $2.31 billion. The largest deal in the quarter was UnitedHealth Group’s (NYSE: UNH) $2.8 billion acquisition... Read More »
Q4:17 Redefined Healthcare M&A

Q4:17 Redefined Healthcare M&A

Despite all the big deals announced in December, the fourth quarter of 2017 wasn’t one for the record books. Merger and acquisition activity was busy, but compared with the previous quarter and the same period in 2016, the pace wasn’t frenetic. Our preliminary data shows 357 transactions were announced in Q4:17, down a slight 4% compared with the third quarter of 2017, and down 8% versus the fourth quarter of 2016. Dollar volume, on the other hand, was quite high. Preliminary data (again) shows nearly $114.3 billion was spent in Q4:17, a 165% gain over Q3:17, and nearly 200% over Q4:16. That total rests largely on the back of a single deal, which you’ve probably heard... Read More »