PE investment in Europe’s healthcare sector hit €15.4 billion (about $17.2 billion) in Q1 as large-cap buyouts helped drive deal value.
Around two-thirds of the deal value was attributable to two deals. The first was Clayton, Dubilier & Rice’s €8 billion buyout of Opella, a French manufacturer of consumer healthcare products, which was the largest PE healthcare deal in the region over the past five years.
The other was KKR’s €2.6 billion take-private of Karo Healthcare, a Swedish pharmaceutical company.
The investment total for the quarter represents a 40% jump from the same period a year ago, according to PitchBook data. The last time PE healthcare investment surpassed €15 billion in a single quarter was in Q2 2022.
However, deal volume dropped in Q1, with 119 deals. This is compared with 162 and 155 deals closed in Q3 and Q4 2024, respectively.
The data is consistent with the expectation that PE investment in the sector would become increasingly focused on fewer but larger deals.
PitchBook’s Healthcare & Life Sciences Outlook, released in December, showed PE fundraising in healthcare on the decline—from 49 funds in 2021 to just 13 in 2024—as investors shifted their focus onto well-capitalized vehicles targeting scalable, late-stage opportunities.
Featured image by Javier Zayas Photography/Getty Images
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