A definitive agreement has been reached for the purchase of publicly traded Sharecare, a digital health company that provides a platform for patient engagement and health navigation, by healthcare investment firm Altaris. The deal, valued at $518 million, would see Sharecare go private.
Sharecare is a virtual platform for navigating healthcare for people, employers, communities, government agencies, health insurance, and providers.
Apart from its navigation-focused products, the firm also offers digital therapies, such as those for anxiety and smoke cessation, patient education content, and unique mobile apps.
Sharecare investors will get $1.43 per share as per the terms of the agreement, which is almost 85% more than the closing price of Sharecare’s shares as of the final trading day before the agreement’s public revelation, June 20.
“We carefully considered several possibilities after starting a methodical approach to maximize stockholder value and best position Sharecare for future growth and success. In a statement, Jeff Arnold, the founder of Sharecare and executive chairman of the board of directors, said, “Our board of directors determined that this transaction is in the best interests of Sharecare and its stockholders and, upon closing, will deliver significant, immediate, and certain value to our stockholders.”
THE MAJOR TREND
This year’s round of mergers and acquisitions in the digital health space includes the acquisition of Sharecare.
Riverside Health, a direct primary care provider, and Marathon Health, an employer health provider, combined in February to deliver value-based primary care services to patients, staff, and union-sponsored clients.
GE HealthCare declared in April that it has completed the acquisition of MIM Software, a provider of AI and imaging technologies.
The workforce solutions managed-service provider CareerStaff Unlimited was bought by staffing and labour management business ShiftMed, while patient-management company ABOUT Healthcare announced the acquisition of Edgility, an AI analytics platform.
A month later, Seoul-based Samsung Medison, a manufacturer of medical equipment, declared that it had reached a deal to acquire French fetal ultrasound AI startup Sonio in its entirety for 126 billion won ($92 million).
In a $34 million deal, mental health and fitness startup Virtual therapies and Akili, the maker of prescription and over-the-counter digital therapies that resemble video games, have officially merged.
This month, weight-inclusive primary and metabolic-care provider Knowwell announced the acquisition of AI-enabled precision metabolic-health management company Alfie Health, and Pennsylvania-based behavioural health company NeuroFlow announced the acquisition of fellow behavioural digital health company Owl.
Progyny, a publicly traded fertility and family-building firm based in New York, said yesterday that it had acquired Apryl, a Berlin-based platform for fertility benefits.
