A Look At Financing, M&A And Alliance Activity October-December 2019
• By Amanda Micklus and Maureen Riordan
Device financing during 2019’s final quarter totaled $1.6bn, a substantial decrease from Q3’s $4.05bn. Merger and acquisition activity, almost doubled from the previous quarter reaching $6.1bn; Stryker’s 4.7bn takeover of Wright Medical was the only billion-dollar transaction. Financings by diagnostics/research players totaled $1.3bn (the lowest quarter of the year) and eight companies were acquired, five of which together were valued at $981m.
Device companies finished 2019 with $1.6bn, a substantial 60% decrease compared with the $4.05bn raised during Q3. Some financings types experienced increases, such as early-stage venture rounds and FOPOs, but debt offerings and IPOs were considerably down versus the last quarter. (See Exhibit 1.)