Global Healthcare Deals Quarterly: Emerging markets grasp even greater share of healthcare M&A; Brazil is fertile ground for mHealth technology

08/01/2012 by Healthcare

What are the recent investment trends and opportunities in global healthcare markets and what regions are likely to draw future merger and acquisition activity? PwC's Global Healthcare Deals Quarterly newsletter provides perspectives on recent trends and expected developments in the global healthcare M&A market, including insights into emerging investment opportunities for strategic and financial investors.

Second Quarter 2012

Amid a sluggish global economy, strategic and financial investors continue to seek growth through M&A. Within the healthcare sector, demographic growth coupled with emerging models to deliver healthcare better, faster and cheaper make healthcare targets among the most frequent in the deals marketplace.

This edition of Global Healthcare Deals Quarterly highlights the rapid pace of M&A activity in the key healthcare M&A emerging markets of Brazil and China. We focus on the Brazilian deals environment, and introduce a mobile healthcare (mHealth) investment idea that dials into the increase in chronic disease incidence, ubiquity of mobile phone technology, and inadequacy of healthcare infrastructure in developing markets such as Brazil.

Notable market developments include:

  • The overall M&A environment remains soft;
  • On a sequential basis, the recent trend towards smaller deal size may be moderating in the healthcare sector, with disclosed deal value increasing 4% from the second half of 2011 despite an 11% drop in the number of deals;
  • Brazilian deals have set a record pace during the first half of 2012, buoyed by a brisk pace of cross-border investment; and
  • The rapid pace of deals in China during the first half of 2012 compressed the market share gap between Asia and Europe, with each now making up just over 20% of the global healthcare M&A market. However, deal activity in China remains largely domestic.
  • Reflecting strong activity in Brazil and China, we find emerging markets' share as a percentage of total healthcare M&A deal value has risen to 31%, the second-highest level on record.