Boston makes a Korea change
In a reminder that stents aren’t just for the vasculature, Boston Scientific has bought MI Tech, a maker of devices designed not for blood vessels but to prop open other passages such as the oesophagus and bile ducts. Boston has acquired 64% of the South Korean group from its current owner, Synergy Innovation, for KRW291.2bn ($230m). Though this is a smallish bolt-on by Boston’s historical standards, so quiet has 2022 been for M&A that, astonishingly, it qualifies as the seventh-largest acquisition of the year so far. Otherwise Boston has followed its usual MO of buying a group with which it has an existing relationship: the US company has distributed MI Tech’s Hanarostent franchise in Japan since 2015. Boston’s shares rose 4% on the news.
| Top 10 M&A deals of 2022 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Announcement date | Acquirer | Target | Value ($m) | Focus |
| Jan 1 | Owens & Minor | Apria | 1,450 | Anaesthesia & respiratory |
| Apr 18 | Archimed | Natus Medical | 1,200 | Anaesthesia & respiratory, neurology |
| Feb 7 | The Cooper Companies | Reproductive Health business of Cook Group | 875 | Obstetrics & gynaecology |
| Jan 10 | Medtronic | Affera | 675 | Cardiology |
| Apr 1 | Biomérieux | Specific Diagnostics | 426 | In vitro diagnostics |
| Jan 5 | Vera Whole Health | Castlight Health | 370 | Healthcare IT |
| Mar 31 | Fresenius | Ivenix | 240 | Drug delivery |
| Jun 15 | Boston Scientific | MI Tech | 230 | Gastroenterology |
| Jan 9 | Exact Sciences | Prevention Genetics | 190 | In vitro diagnostics |
| Apr 18 | Fulgent Genetics | Inform Diagnostics | 170 | In vitro diagnostics |
| Source: Evaluate Medtech & company communications. | ||||
