ELISABET CRUCES
Clarivate Analytics, Barcelona, Spain

Abstract

During the fourth quarter of 2018, Cortellis Deals Intelligence, from Clarivate Analytics, tracked 140 new biopharma mergers and acquisitions (M&A) with a total disclosed deal value of $33.1 billion as part of its ongoing coverage of M&A activity in the life sciences sector. This compared to 153 and $20.3 billion in the third quarter and 151 and $100.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017. The transactions included 30 high-value new M&As accounted in Q4 2018  worth in excess of $100 million with 12 worth more than $500 million.

INTRODUCTION

During the fourth quarter of 2018, Cortellis Deals Intelligence registered 140 new mergers and acquisitions (M&A) with a total disclosed deal value of $33.1 billion as part of its ongoing coverage of M&A activity in the life sciences sector compared to 153 and $20.3 billion in the third quarter and 151 and $100.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017 (See Figure 1).

The highest transaction for the period was the $5.7 billion offer done by Veritas Capital and Elliott Management for cloud-computing firm athenahealth, although its value fell well below the top M&A transactions, such as the $160 billion unsuccessful Pfizer bid for Allergan (which might have been history’s biggest pharma merger), the $69 billion CVS/Aetna combination, announced in the fourth quarter of 2015 and 2017, respectively, or the $74 billion offer of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) by Celgene recently announced in 2019.

HIGH-VALUE M&AS WORTH $0.5B OR MORE

We tracked 30 high-value new M&As worth in excess of $100 million during the fourth quarter of 2018 with 12 worth mo ...