Healthcare mergers and acquisitions are in no short supply as providers, health tech companies, payers and other industry players look to expand their businesses and gain a competitive edge. Here’s a roundup of new deals that were revealed, closed, rumored or called off during the month of June.
Provider
RWJBarnabas Health and Saint Peter’s Healthcare System were forced to call off their merger plans following pushback from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The New Jersey organizations had signed a definitive agreement to pursue the deal in late 2020 and had recently picked up the blessing of state regulators. Leadership at the systems said the decision to halt the deal was mutual.
HCA Healthcare and Steward Health Care axed an “anti-competitive” five-hospital transaction that was similarly blocked by the FTC. Announced in September 2021, the purchase would have brought HCA’s Mountain Division to a total of 16 hospitals while combining the region’s second and fourth largest health systems.
Beth Israel Lahey Health has signed a definitive agreement to absorb Exeter Health Resources. The New Hampshire nonprofit provider employs over 2,400 people and consists of three operating affiliates: Exeter Hospital, Core Physicians and Rockingham Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice. The organizations are now awaiting state and federal regulatory review, which they expect “to take a number of months.”
Pipeline Health reportedly received the all-clear from the Illinois State Health Facilities and Services Board to sell two Illinois hospitals to Resilience Healthcare for $92 million. The facilities are located in Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois.
ChristianaCare will be purchasing Jennersville Hospital in West Grove, Pennsylvania, from Tower Health alongside an interest in two office buildings and additional land. The hospital has been closed since Dec. 31, 2021. The deal is expected to close roughly 30 to 60 days following the mid-June announcement and would include any currently operating personnel or practices. Other terms were not disclosed.
Physical Rehabilitation Network entered the Wyoming outpatient physical therapy market with its acquisition of Gillette Physical Therapy. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Payer
Cigna closed the divestiture of its life, accident and supplemental benefits business in Asia to Chubb in a deal valued at $5.4 billion. The divestiture covers assets across six markets in the Asia-Pacific region: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan and Thailand. Cigna said it plans to use the proceeds primarily for share repurchase and, with $3.5 billion backing, an accelerated share repurchase that it announced in mid-June.
UnitedHealth Group’s pending acquisition of home health provider LHC Group came under additional regulatory scrutiny when the FTC issued a second request for information regarding the planned $5 billion deal. Announced in March, the deal will now be bumped back at least 30 more days as a result of the latest regulatory hurdle.
CareMax, a publicly traded value-based care provider, announced plans to acquire Steward Health Care System’s Medicare value-based care business for a combination of cash and stock valued at roughly $135 million. The deal is expected to close during the late third or early fourth quarter of the year and would more than quintuple CareMax’s current number of covered seniors while opening the door to hundreds of thousands more.
Tech
Oracle wrapped up its $28 billion deal to purchase health IT company Cerner. The all-cash deal was announced in December and came shortly after the electronic health record maker passed its final regulatory hurdles. The purchase valued Cerner at $95 a share and will be immediately accretive on Oracle’s earnings on a non-GAAP basis in fiscal 2023, Oracle’s CEO said.
Tivity Health, which offers virtual and in-person health and fitness programs for seniors, went private via acquisition by Stone Point Capital. The firm paid out $32.50 per share in cash for a total value of $2 billion. The company maintained its headquarters, campus and executive leadership during the transaction.
UnitedHealth Group will purchase U.K. health technology company EMIS Group in $1.5 billion all-cash deal. Per the terms of the deal, an affiliate of UnitedHealth's Optum business in the U.K., Bordeaux UK Holdings II Limited, made the cash offer, which Optum U.K. leadership said will bring more advanced tech solutions and capabilities to both the country’s National Health Service and general practitioners.
Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) announced the $1.5 billion all-cash acquisition of Parata Systems in a bid to enter the growing pharmacy automation market. The deal is expected to close during the first half of BD’s 2023 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Parata is a portfolio company of healthcare private equity firm Frazier Healthcare Partners.
Francisco Partners has closed its acquisition of IBM's Watson Health assets, which it celebrated by relaunching the healthcare data analytics business as a standalone company called Merative. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but prior reports said IBM was shopping the business unit around in the $1 billion range.
ResMed, a company with digital health and medical devices for people with sleep apnea, COPD and other chronic diseases, announced a definitive agreement to acquire German out-of-hospital provider software firm MEDIFOX DAN from Hg. The purchase will run ResMed roughly $1 billion and will be funded with ResMed’s existing credit facilities. The companies expect a close by the second quarter of ResMed’s fiscal 2023.
Evolent Health, a population health management services company serving payers and providers, unveiled a definitive agreement to acquire surgical management technology provider IPG from TPG Growth for $375 million plus “additional contingent consideration of up to $87 million.” Evolent said it plans to integrate IPG’s team and platform into New Century Health, its cardiology and oncology care management business.
Lightbeam Health Solutions, a population health management company, has scooped up Jvion and its AI-powered predictive analytics capabilities. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, although Lightbeam said it expects the purchase to further enhance and expand the company's proactive and preventive capabilities.
Kindbody, a fertility health company, said it is bringing genetic testing and expertise in-house with the acquisition of Phosphorus Labs. The genomics company’s geneticists and lab technicians will join Kindbody as its new KindLabs division, which will also include an 8,000-square-foot reference laboratory. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Bain Capital picked up healthcare AI and automation software company LeanTaaS for an undisclosed sum. Additionally, the firm said its deal also includes a “significant” capital investment to support LeanTaas’ growth, which is expected to go through during the third quarter of 2022.
SteadyMD, a business-to-business provider of telehealth software, picked up BlocHealth to streamline the onboarding process for clinicians as part of its virtual care workforce. SteadyMD said the deal would bolster its internal efforts around clinician licensing and payer enrollment and will help its customers with medical credentialing. Terms were not disclosed.
Bardavon Health Innovation, a workers' compensation and physical therapy company, acquired PeerWell to expand its musculoskeletal digital health solutions. With the deal, the two companies will offer a hybrid physical therapy experience that pairs in-person physical therapy with virtual tools to support patients before, during and after injury, according to the companies. Bardavon did not disclose the financial details of the deal.
WebMD Health Corp. announced the acquisition of technology and data analytics company Mercury Healthcare. WebMD said it will be bringing Mercury’s patient communication and relationship operations under its WebMD Provider business, which similarly focuses on engagement and clinical education. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Accrete Health Partners, a strategic holding company affiliated with Bon Secours Mercy Health, acquired global health and tech consulting company Nordic Consulting Partners. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.