Kathleen M. Premo, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s St. Petersburg office, was quoted in Mergermarket, in “North America Pipeline Explorer: Healthcare Dealmakers Anticipating Continued Activity in Cell and Gene Therapy, Biotech AI.”
Following is an excerpt:
The debt market has impacted the growth of financial sponsors, affecting their ability to acquire assets, according to the sources. As dry powder is now more expensive, investors are weighing options more carefully than when the cost of capital was less expensive, said Epstein Becker Green attorney Kathleen Premo, who specializes in healthcare.
Premo also noted that, despite strong demand for deals, private equity focus will likely shift to smaller-sized acquisitions, to be easily tucked into existing, strong-performing platforms.
Private equity firms will benefit from partnering with groups “who can both complete deals and provide sophisticated infrastructure support to carry out these challenging small acquisitions,” she added. Fewer legal obstacles are likely to arise from smaller deals, she noted.
“A number of states have…attempted to pass legislation that requires regulatory approvals for transactions hitting certain thresholds,” the purpose being to “curtail what is seen as unbridled PE investment,” Premo explained. “These laws reflect an anti-PE bias which is premised on the concept that corporate-backed investment decisions allegedly jeopardize medical quality or access.”
