M&A activity was focussed in Asia-Pacific, particularly China
The pharmaceutical and healthcare industry reported 59 deals worth $5 billion in November 2017. Of $5 billion, Asia-Pacific accounted for 78 per cent of the activity, of which 50per cent was contributed by the Chinese companies. The M&A activity recorded in Asia-Pacific in November is the highest, both in value and volume terms (29 per cent in November), since June 2017 considering that Asia-Pacific accounted for 9 per cent of the total deal value and 22 per cent of total deal volume between June 2017 and October 2017.
Shanghai Pharmaceutical’s proposed acquisition of the Cardinal Health’s business in China is expected to strengthen its presence in the pharma and medical products distribution market as well as facilitate the growth of its pharma manufacturing business, enabling it to play a significant role in the government’s ‘Healthy China’ initiative.
Deals activity
The venture capital market recorded an increase in deal value while there was a drop in the deal volume with November 2017 recording 70 deals worth $1.3 billion when compared to five months average of 79 deals worth $1.2 billion. Progenity, Semma Therapeutics, Arcus Biosciences and Annoroad Gene Technology are the companies which have raised more than $100 million each in November 2017.