Aaron Sonshine comments on positive deal-making trends in technology and healthcare in Lexpert’s special look at the sectors.
“I’d say, overall, the situation is improving,” says Aaron. “Look no further than the United States and Canadian stock market indices—you see the NASDAQ, Dow, and even the TSX hovering around historic highs. That’s very helpful.”
Aaron points out that while healthcare and tech company valuations have bounced off their recent bottoms, the more “mature” names have rebounded more than those in the small and mid-cap market. “There are still difficulties with finding financing,” he says, though another IPO window is opening soon. “Still, the landscape is looking brighter.”
In the tech space, including artificial intelligence, Sonshine points to Apple’s recent acquisition of Waterloo, Ontario-based Darwin AI, a company that has developed technology for visually inspecting components during manufacturing in various industries.
On the drug development side of healthcare, Aaron says, “You’ve got large companies and private equity funds sitting on significant cash reserves, and while valuations have gone up from recent lows, they are still attractive to potential buyers.”
As well, many of the drugs made by Big Pharma are soon coming off patent and can now be made by generic drug companies, so the pipeline needs to be refilled. The model has generally been that big firms will buy smaller companies with late-stage drug development.
Aaron’s full story in Lexpert’s Special Edition on Technology and Health Sciences is available here.
Bennett Jones