Deals, Investments                                                                                                                                    

There were 236 deals representing a total reported transaction value of $39.3 billion during the first quarter of 2019 within the market for healthcare service businesses that support the life sciences industry. The largest deal was Veritas Capital’s completed acquisition of Athenahealth, a cloud-based EHR company, for $5.9 billion. Transaction highlights of the quarter include a number of corporate divestments, new investments into somewhat older digital media operations, and continued investment into some key sub-sectors including telemedicine, healthcare IT, AI, and technology-enhanced revenue cycle management.

Informa sells UBM brands to MJH, reportedly for $100M+ 

A year after joining British events and publishing giant Informa plc, UBM Life Sciences’ media brands are changing hands again. Informa plc has agreed to sell several media brands from within its Life Sciences Group to New Jersey-based healthcare publisher MJH Associates for “just over $100 million.” The deal—which includes over 20 print and digital brands serving the healthcare, pharmaceutical and veterinary spaces and spread across six U.S. offices and one in the UK—signifies a major expansion for the 20 year-old MJH Associates, essentially doubling its portfolio of media brands and swelling its overall headcount to more than 600 employees, an increase of around 50 percent according to a company statement. The Life Sciences Group features 3 vertical markets. Some of the brands MJH acquired are:

• Health care — Medical Economics, Patient Care, Practical Cardiology, Dermatology Times, Drug Topics, Ophthalmology Times, Psychiatric Times, Urology Times, Contemporary OB/GYN, Oncology, Dental Products Report and Managed Healthcare Executive.
• Pharma — Pharmaceutical Technology, LC/GC, Pharmaceutical Executive, Spectroscopy, BioPharm International and Nutritional Outlook.
• Animal Health — DVM360, Vetted and Firstline. Additionally, the animal health group produces the Fetch series of three live regional conferences.

MJH was advised by Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips.

Full MJH Associates press release from Business Wire

Teladoc expands with French acquisition

Teladoc Health (NYSE TDOC) acquired MédecinDirect, a French telemedicine company. Terms of the deal, expected to close in the first half of this year, were not disclosed. MédecinDirect will become the French country unit of Teladoc, which already has operations in other countries outside the U.S., including Australia, Brazil, Spain and the U.K. MédecinDirect was co-founded in 2008.  Last year, Teladoc acquired Advance Medical in a $352 million deal and second opinion service Best Doctors for $440 million in 2017.  In 2016, it signed an agreement to buy HealthiestYou, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based company that specializes in mobile patient engagement.

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