Mergermarket, an Acuris company, has released its global merger and acquisition trend report for the technology, media, and telecom (TMT) sector for 2017. Findings include M&A activity in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and healthcare industries.
Among key findings:
· In 2017, global deal making in the TMT sector saw 3,389 deals worth a combined $498.2 billion. Although total deal value fell 26.3 percent compared to the $676.3 billion tallied in 2016, a new Mergermarket record (which dates back to 2001) by deal count was set, increasing by 233 transactions over 2016 (3,156 deals) to reach an all-time high
· Such trends highlight the increasing influence of technology in just about everything, and how many industries have been finding themselves under pressure to, at times rapidly, incorporate digital tools in order to survive. This has forced consolidations in long-standing industries such as pharma, medical, and biotech
· Amazon stayed busy throughout the year, disrupting markets. In what at the time was a somewhat surprising move, the company entered the consumer retail space with a bang, snatching up health food supermarket chain Whole Foods in June for $13.5 billion, its largest acquisition ever as well as the largest grocery deal in a decade.
In addition to disrupting the retail grocery market, the healthcare space also saw the emergence of Amazon in its midst. In a defensive move, CVS Health announced that it would be buying Aetna, an insurance carrier, for $67.8 billion in what amounted to the second-largest deal of the year, according to Mergermarket, which added that the move purportedly came after Amazon had led for licenses to operate pharmacy benefit management operations in multiple states, with more planned.
“That a Tech giant could cause such a shift in industry strategies as in the Pharma, Medical, & Biotech (PMB) sector demonstrates how eCommerce, Technology, and analytics have increasingly grown to be powerful tools capable of reshaping entire trades,” writes Elizabeth Lim, senior analyst and research editor – Americas, author of the report.
For the full Global Sector Overview, click here.
(Source: Mergermarket Limited)
Filed Under: Drug Discovery
