The Health Care M&A Monthly: November’s Health Care M&A Market —

Sixty-one Deals Announced Worth A Total Of $34.2 Billion
Email Editor
November saw a total of 61 mergers and acquisitions announced in the health care industry, down 21% from the 77 deals announced in October.
Thirty-four deals, or 56% of the month’s total, were in the four sectors of the health care technology segment, comprising Medical Devices (11), Pharmaceuticals (11), Biotechnology (8) and e-Health (4). The remaining 27 deals were reported in the health care services segment. For the first time in a long time, deal volume in the Hospital sector surpassed that in the Long-Term Care sector by seven to three. The Laboratories, MRI & Dialysis sector posted no deals.
Based on preliminary results, a total of $34.2 billion was committed to finance the month’s 61 deals. This is more than twice the $15.5 billion spent in the previous month.
The health care services segment attracted $21.7 billion in November, or 63% of the total, with the technology segment accounting for the remaining $12.5 billion. The month produced four billion-dollar deals, with one each in Pharmacy Benefits Management, Pharmaceuticals, e-Health and Medical Devices. A single deal, CVS Corporation’s (NYSE: CVS) $21.0 billion acquisition of Caremark RX (NYSE: CMX), featured in last month’s issue, accounted for 61% of the total amount spent on health care M&A in November.
A Banner Year in Health Care M&A
The first 11 months of 2006 have seen a total of 907 deals worth $234.7 billion. Of that amount, 32 billion-dollar deals accounted for $180.6 billion, or 77% of the total amount. Even with a month to go, 2006 has already broken records in terms of M&A dollar volume, easily surpassing the $162.1 billion spent on 970 deals in 2005 and the $164.2 billion spent on 875 deals in 2004.
 
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