Stat of the Week: PE Firms Accounted for 10% of 2017 Deals

Stat of the Week: PE Firms Accounted for 10% of 2017 Deals

2017 was a busy year for healthcare mergers and acquisitions, with 1,566 transactions announced. At this early date, that total is 2% below the previous year’s total of 1,593 (a record year, by the way). Private equity firms contributed to that total, announcing 158 transactions, or 10% of the annual total, according to data obtained from our DealSearchOnline.com database. That total is equal to the previous year’s 156 announced transactions. Private equity firms typically don’t disclose financial terms when they announce transactions (if they announce them at all), so it’s interesting to see these firms did disclose some $22.0 billion on healthcare transactions in... Read More »
CRO Deals Pile Up, and So Do the Multiples

CRO Deals Pile Up, and So Do the Multiples

After 34 announced transactions in 2017, the news that one contract research organization (CRO) bought another CRO is downright yawn-inducing. This space is undergoing rapid consolidation, no question. Before this week, those 34 deals had a combined total of approximately $20.9 billion. Add another deal, and another $950 million, and the market just got a tad smaller. Catalent, Inc. (NYSE: CTLT) announced the 35th deal in this sector on September 19. Its target, Indiana-based Cook Pharmica LLC, is a biologics-focused contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with capabilities across biologics development, clinical and commercial cell culture manufacturing,... Read More »

LabCorp Lands a Global CRO

In late July, Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (NYSE: LH) announced the 6th CRO deal to surpass the $1 billion mark this year. The $1.2 billion deal for Chiltern is its third announced transaction this year, having acquired Mount Sinai’s Clinical Outreach Laboratories (January) and Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories, LLC (February). Despite activity in the Laboratory, MRI & Dialysis sector, LabCorp was on the hunt for a CRO target all year, but with little luck. Back in February, it was rumored that LabCorp was looking to buy Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC for $8 billion. PPD ended up going to Hellman & Friedman LLC, a long time... Read More »
WebMD Goes Private in $3.6 Billion Deal

WebMD Goes Private in $3.6 Billion Deal

A portfolio company of KKR (NYSE: KKR) just announced the 99th eHealth deal of 2017, and the second largest eHealth deal in our M&A database dating back to 1993. On July 24, 2017, KKR portfolio company Internet Brands, an online media and software services organization, announced the acquisition of WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD). The company provides health information services, serving consumers, physicians, healthcare professionals, employers, and health plans through its public and private online portals, mobile platforms and health-focused publications. The deal comes five months after New York-based WebMD said it would explore strategic options following a slowdown in... Read More »

CRO Consolidation Tops $13 Billion in 2017

2017 is the year of the CRO deals. In the first four-and-a-half months of 2017, 17 deals targeting a CRO (contract research organization) have been announced, with disclosed spending of approximately $13.8 billion. Just a few weeks after Hellman & Friedman LLC took over the majority stake in Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC (PPD) for $9.05 billion in April, the CRO market witnessed another mega deal. On May 11, 2017, INC Research Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: INCR) a contract research organization providing Phase 1 to Phase 4 clinical development services, announced that it merged with privately-held inVentiv Health in an all-stock transaction valued at $4.6 billion. The combination... Read More »