Elle McCulty | “Multiples have been incredibly high. Many companies in the last couple years were expecting top-tier platform multiples, even those that were a single center or ones with an underdeveloped management team. That’s going away and those transactions will not close if they are expecting those types of multiples.” |
Regulatory headwinds: In 2022, healthcare consolidators were acutely aware of the Federal Trade Commission and other regulators’ attention on private equity investment in healthcare. President Biden stated that healthcare was one of four areas he and the FTC would be watching closely. And, on January 5, right before we headed to the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, the FTC announced a proposed rule to eliminate non-compete agreements that would have a dramatic effect on the industry. While many of our conversations in San Francisco noted concern for the proposal, most suspect that it won’t be as extreme as the proposed rule’s initial language.
Beth Vessel | “We should expect to see the proposed rule on non-competes take effect, at least in some form, hopefully with differentiation for highly compensated employees/senior executives and a broader exception in connect with the sale of a business. Then there will be court challenges. But it would definitely have an impact on how acquirors approach transactions, and may have an impact on valuations.” |
