Fifty-two percent of executives are on the hunt for acquisitions in the next year, according to Ernst & Young's 2018 Global Capital Confidence Barometer.
Private equity companies are increasingly a part of that deal-making. "The private equity deal activity increase we saw in 2017 looks to be accelerating. Interestingly, while we can anticipate intense competition, we may also see more collaboration as private equity investors club together with corporates to do deals," Steve Krouskos, EY's global vice chair of transaction advisory services, said.
Healthcare has not escaped this trend. Here are nine private equity firms that have made a bid for or acquired a healthcare company's business this year:
1. Aquiline Capital Partners. New York City-based Aquiline Capital Partners acquired revenue cycle management company Aspirion Health Resources May 31.
2. BlueMountain Capital Management. New York City-based private equity firm BlueMountain Capital Management will reportedly decide soon whether it will assume control of several of Louisville-based KentuckyOne Health's assets.
3. Clayton Dubilier & Rice. Cardinal Health sold a 55 percent stake in naviHealth — a six-year-old, Nashville, Tenn.-based startup that helps manage post-acute care in value-based care arrangements — to the New York City-based private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice.
4. KKR & Co. New York City-based private equity firm KKR & Co. has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Envision Healthcare, a Nashville, Tenn.-based physician services provider, in an all-cash transaction for approximately $9.9 billion, including the assumption of debt.
5. Platinum Equity. Johnson & Johnson will sell its LifeScan diabetes unit to the private equity firm Platinum Equity for $2.1 billion, according to CNBC.
6. Summit Partners. On April 21, Fresenius Medical Care, a division of Bad Homburg, Germany-based Fresenius SE, sold its majority share in Tacoma, Wash.-based Sound Inpatient Physicians Holdings to Boston-based Summit Partners. UnitedHealth Group's Optum also has stake in the $2.2 billion deal.
7. Veritas Capital. Veritas Capital entered into a definitive agreement April 2 with General Electric Healthcare to purchase its value-based care division for $1.05 billion in cash.
8. & 9. Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe and TPG. In a deal with Humana, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe and TPG will acquire Louisville, Ky.-based acute care provider Kindred Healthcare's facility-focused arm, comprising long-term acute care hospitals and contract rehabilitation services businesses. Humana and the two private equity firms signed a definitive sale agreement Dec. 19 for $4.1 billion in cash, including assumption of debt.
The trio also will purchase hospice operator Curo Health Services, based in Mooresville, N.C., for $1.4 billion.
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52% of executives plan to acquire in next 12 months