To become the country’s largest manager of Medicare plans and grow its West Coast business, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is acquiring PacifiCare Health Systems (NYSE: PHS). In consummating what is the second-largest managed care deal ever nnounced, UnitedHealth will...
Often as not, the names given to federal legislation disguise, rather than describe, the content of the bill. And, no, we’re not talking about the Patriot Act. What we have in mind is the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (AJCA). A close reading of this law reveals...
One big deal can easily beget an-other. When a merger between two companies threatens to displace a third company from an advantageous market position, we often see the affected company pursue its own deal to regain and shore up its cherished position. This gambit is...
Merger and acquisition activity in the health care industry reached its highest level in two years during the first quarter of 2005, posting a total of 248 deals. This figure represents a 15% increase over the previous quarter’s 216 deals and a 19% increase over the...
Frankly, since the beginning of the year we had been fretting about the absence of billion-dollar deals from the health care M&A market. Until this month, that is. Two such deals were announced in the Pharmaceutical sector (and a third in Specialty Pharmacy, see...
For the past two years, the Long-Term Care sector has consistently posted the highest deal volume in health care services. Within the sector, however, deals have lopsidedly favored the assisted and independent living end of the senior care acquisition spectrum, to the...