Measuring Medtech's M&A Appetite in 2025Measuring Medtech's M&A Appetite in 2025

Which medtech companies are hungry for acquisitions this year, and which companies are likely to be more choosy?

Amanda Pedersen

January 24, 2025

4 Min Read
Illustration showing a big fish with a dollar sign eating many smaller fish with dollar signs (illustrative of business acquisitions)
Medtech could see an uptick in M&A activity in 2025 if recent executive commentary is any indication.Image credit: Dmitrii_Guzhanin / iStock via Getty Images

Medtech has already seen a strong showing of M&A activity this month, starting with Stryker announcing its intention to buy Inari Medical in a deal valued at $4.9 billion. Next came Boston Scientific pulling the trigger on Bolt Medical, a company it had invested in since 2019. We've even seen some acquisition activity on the supplier side of medtech, including Geon Performance Solutions acquiring Foster, and Phillips Medisize buying Vectura Group.

Is it too soon to get our hopes up for more to come on the medtech M&A front in 2025? We've combed through presentations from the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference that wrapped up last week, along with recent earnings reports, to find out which medtech companies are hungry for M&A this year and which companies are likely to be a bit more picky with their capital allocations.

Abbott CEO: There's opportunities in med-tech, there's opportunities in diagnostics, and we're in a great position, and it allows us to be selective

Given Abbott's strong organic pipeline, the company can afford to be selective when it comes to acquisition opportunities.

"It allows us to look at opportunities that make sense strategically but also generate an attractive return," CEO Robert Ford said earlier this week during the company's earnings call.

Related:Is J&J Going to Sell its Stroke Business?

J&J CEO: Larger opportunities have to be seen more like outliers

CEO Joaquin Duato acknowledged that external innovation has always been a very important part of Johnson & Johnson's capital allocation strategy, and the company completed more than 40 transactions in 2024 alone. But while deals like Abiomed (a $16.6 billion acquisition) and Shockwave (a $13.1 billion acquisition) get the most attention, those larger opportunities are the outliers for J&J.

"Our go-forward, it's always been focused on these smaller opportunities," Duato said earlier this week during the company's earnings call. "That's where we are able to create value."

Medtronic CEO: We're on the hunt for tuck-in M&A

"We're on the hung for tuck-in M&A that leverages our existing businesses and that will also enhance our growth and our margin profile," CEO Geoff Martha said at the recent J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.

Martha said he thinks the company can step up and be a little more aggressive on the M&A front, but that means shoring up a product gap in an area Medtronic is already in or adding an adjacency to an existing area. In terms of dollar amount, he said a "couple billion dollars" is ideal for a tuck-in acquisition and that the ideal target would be closer to a revenue-generating stage.

Related:Not Gone Yet: B+L Still a Part of Bausch Health

"The closer to cash flow the better," he said.

Boston Scientific CFO: The world is our oyster relative to M&A

As mentioned above, Boston Scientific has already been hot on the M&A trail in 2025 with the Bolt Medical announcement.

"The great thing about our team is the world is our oyster relative to M&A," CFO Dan Brennan said at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. "It isn't just the public companies; it isn't just private companies; it's in the creativity that they've shown and the ability to do unique deals across the globe. I think that puts us in a different place rather than it's just about interest rates or it's just about looking at mid-cap valuations. We've been able to do, I think, a really nice cadence of M&A over time, and we're very disciplined on price; we don't chase things; we make sure that we have the right returns, and I'm proud of that."

GE HealthCare: Strong balance sheet allows for organic investment and opportunistic M&A

GE HealthCare has made five acquisitions since spinning out of General Electric in 2023. Last year the company kicked off 2024 with the acquisition of MIM Software, a company offering medical imaging analysis and artificial intelligence solutions, and finished off the year with the acquisition announcement of Nihon Med-Physics.

Related:Globus Relieves Nevro’s Pain with Strategic Acquisition

According to the company's slide presentation at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, GE HealthCare could be on the prowl for more M&A in 2025, as it has a strong balance sheet that allows for both organic investment and opportunistic M&A.

Baxter: Investment in the company will be a priority

Baxter is in the process of selling its kidney care business to private equity firm Carlyle Group, and the $3.8 billion deal is expected to close early in the first quarter. When all is said and done, Baxter should end up with net after-tax proceeds between $3.15 billion and $3.25 billion, company executives said at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference last week. CEO Joe Almeida and CFO Joel Grade both mentioned that investment in the company, both organically and inorganically, will be a priority in 2025, after debt repayment.

"And when I say inorganically, this does not mean large transformational deals," Grade said. "It means the opportunity for tuck-in deals in areas we've had a lot of success in historically."


About the Author

Amanda Pedersen

Amanda Pedersen is a veteran journalist and award-winning columnist with a passion for helping medical device professionals connect the dots between the medtech news of the day and the bigger picture. She has been covering the medtech industry since 2006.

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