What is happening with the big pre-COVID sales processes?
This week HBI takes stock of the sales processes that were launched before international lockdowns hit in late Spring to see which have been postponed, cancelled, agreed, re-launched or are still pending.
M&A ground to a halt for most of Q2 as lockdowns prevented meetings and market uncertainty led to jiggling nerves from many investors. HBI counted around 16 substantial sales processes that had started or were ongoing in the first few months of 2020 with a valuation of more than €50m. Just two of those have been agreed, the sale of Elsan to KKR/Ardian and Rhoen Klinikum to Asklepios.
The sales or potential IPOs with the highest valuations, Synlab and Unilabs, are still pending with no clear indication of an outcome. Remarkably, the only process we know has been cancelled has been the sale of Bumrungrad to BDMS – the pandemic has struck a near-fatal blow to medical tourism, on which Bumrungrad is nearly entirely reliant.
It may not be a coincidence that the only processes that have been wrapped up – Elsan and Rhoen – are companies which derive nearly all revenues from national statutory insurers who are protecting revenues during the pandemic.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Rachel Lewis or call 0207 183 3779.
