Less than two years after acquiring Sound United for $1.025 billion, Masimo Corp. plans to hive off the consumer audio subsidiary along with consumer health products such as its Stork baby monitor and Freedom smart watch and band. The “rushed” announcement made Friday “came after being informed that Politan intended to nominate directors this week,” said activist investor Politan Capital Management. Politan, which owns 8.9% of the company, secured two board seats in a highly contentious proxy battle last year and nominated two more on Monday morning.
Johnson Matthey plc agreed to sell its medical device components business to Montagu Private Equity for £550 million ($700 million) on a cash-free, debt-free basis. For Montagu, the deal is part of its expanding health care portfolio. Earlier in 2024 the private equity firm, which is the primary shareholder in RTI Surgical Inc., acquired Cook Biotech Inc. from Cook Medical Inc. and merged the two companies.
An advocate general (AG) for the E.U. Court of Justice did not mince words in calling out the European Commission for its “very significant extension of the scope of the Merger Regulation and of the commission’s jurisdiction” in reviewing Illumina Inc.’s $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail LLC.
Validating Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s radiopharmaceutical technology and manufacturing capabilities, Astrazeneca plc offered to buy the firm for $2 billion up front in cash, plus a contingent value right that could raise the total deal value by another $400 million.
Med-tech deal value in February jumped to $255.61 million, an increase of 137.23% from the $107.75 million in deals from January, yet below the 2023 monthly average of $886.13 million. On the M&A front, med-tech transactions hit their lowest point since May 2019, totaling only $16 million.
Advanced Medical Solutions Group plc (AMS) signed an agreement to buy Peters Surgical SAS for up to €141.4 million (US$154.6 million). The move by AMS for the tissue repair and skin closure manufacturer is part of its strategy to buy assets which will strengthen its product portfolio and broaden its global reach.
Another med-tech acquisition was wiped off the charts after Japan’s Olympus Corp. rescinded the acquisition of South Korean medical device firm Taewoong Medical Co. Ltd. on March 7, after finding “data integrity issues” related to Taewoong’s products.
In a move to build up its dominance in the radiopharma market, Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. said it plans to acquire radioisotope production technology firm Artms Inc. and its advanced cyclotron-based isotope production platform, manufacturing plant and stockpile of ultra-pure rare metals.
Despite a slowdown in the fourth quarter (Q4), med-tech deals concluded the year with the highest deal-value total in BioWorld MedTech’s records. In 2023, a total of $10.63 billion was raised from deals, a 33% increase over the $7.99 billion deal total in 2022. Meanwhile, annual M&A value dropped 58%, from $153.09 billion in 2022 to $64.8 billion in 2023.
The slow pace of financing in med-tech appears to have stimulated cardiac arrhythmia technology developer Adagio Medical Inc. to turn to a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in a type of deal that has all but vanished in the last year. The company signed an agreement with Arya Sciences Acquisition Corp. IV to combine in a reverse merger deal that will result in Adagio’s listing on Nasdaq under “ADGM.”