by Ken Dropiewski, Principal Consultant – McDermott &Bull Executive Search
5 Top Mergers and Acquisitions in MedTech/Biotech for 2018
Who and Why?
I started researching top M&A activity this year and came across multiple deals that were interesting regardless of their size. Some were headscratchers, but others seemed to make tremendous sense and could pave the way for changes in healthcare. Before I get to the list, here are a couple other points that seem worth mentioning:
- Private Equity was active and completed some big acquisitions such as purchasing the LifeScan diabetes business from J&J for $2B.
- Chinese investors and companies were active as well picking up some nice technology. Congrats to my friends at Keystone Heart being acquired by Venus Medtech.
- It doesn’t matter how big you are, you can be bought. Stop me if you’ve heard the rumors about Johnson & Johnson buying Boston Scientific or Edwards.
Part of the fun is the speculation of who will buy who and why. Sometimes it happens as expected and sometimes there are major surprises. If 2019 is anything like what we saw in 2017 and 2018, it will be another year of interesting consolidation. With that being said, here are my top 5 mergers/acquisitions this year.
(My) Top 5 Mergers and Acquisitions in the MedTech/Biotech industry for 2018
1. Medtronic Buys Mazor Robotics for $1.6B
Robotics continue to be hot in MedTech. Medtronic is a believer and picked up this nice company to transform their spinal surgery procedures and outcomes (1). We assumed they would continue to develop their robotics business and it took until November of this year for this substantial acquisition.
2. CVS buys Aetna for $70B
This is how healthcare is changing. This isn’t a device or biotech company being bought or merging but deals like these are going to shape healthcare. CVS has almost 10,000 pharmacies and 1,000 healthcare clinics. The acquisition of Aetna adds new services and data analytics, giving greater control over patient flow (2).
3. BSX makes offer to buy BTG for $4B
Boston Scientific is not afraid to make acquisitions and I feel this is a good one. BTG is very strong in the peripheral intervention space and this is an area that Boston Scientific competes in heavily. Per CEO Mike Mahoney, it will also augment their capabilities in important unmet areas such as cancer and pulmonary embolism (3).
4. Takeda purchases Shire for $62B
There are 62 billion reasons why I listed this one. The amount is staggering, and this is the largest overseas purchase by a Japanese company, making it a global top 10 drug maker (4).
5. BD purchases CR Bard for $24B
Granted this deal closed two days before 2018, but I still wanted to include this acquisition. Bard and Becton Dickinson have been steady over the years, both carrying a nice reputation. I think BD’s Chairman and CEO captured it best, “These companies each have a legacy of more than 100 years of advancing the world of health and supporting those on the frontlines of healthcare.” (5) Let’s hope BD carries on the tradition.
In Conclusion
At the time of this writing not all these deals have cleared their required hurdles but look promising. The top 100 companies in this space are changing constantly. Consolidation is not always good, but in some instances makes a lot of sense. Regardless, I’m hoping that this industry continues to bring innovative products, therapies and technology to this space to improve patient care.
- http://newsroom.medtronic.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=251324&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2368370
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenbrozak/2017/12/04/three-takeaways-from-the-cvs-aetna-merger/#287eb22c1252
- http://news.bostonscientific.com/2018-11-20-Boston-Scientific-Announces-Recommended-Offer-to-Acquire-BTG-plc
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-shire-m-a-takeda-pharma/takeda-gets-japanese-approval-for-62-billion-shire-purchase-idUSKCN1MS0TY
- https://www.bd.com/en-za/about-bd/news-and-media/press-releases/dec-29-2017-bd-completes-bard-acquisition-creating-new-global-health-care-leader
Ken Dropiewski is a Principal Consultant with McDermott & Bull’s Life Science and Medical Device practice and has been doing search for nearly two decades. His expertise serves the medical device and biotechnology industry. Ken is especially known for work done in the cardiac, vascular, interventional and oncology segments and has been in the Med-Tech field for over 20 years. Prior to his career in search he worked for Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific.
