Overview and outlook of European Life Sciences deals 2023 & 2024

The European Life Sciences M&A market continued to gain momentum in Q3. For two consecutive quarters, the total deal value surpassed 7 billion US dollars.

Notable deals included L’Oréal and Organon, expanding their presence in dermatology and Partners Group acquiring majority stake in an antibody discovery CRO. It was also the strongest quarter this year for VC & growth capital investments by deal value, driven by activity in oncology, neurology and ophthalmology therapeutics. Only IPOs & follow-on offerings declined, although some European follow-on and secondary offerings exceeded USD 100 million.

Read our quarterly update and get all the details and insights from the Life Sciences deals landscape developments in Q3 2024. 

In Q2 2024, the European M&A market in the Life Sciences sector showed resilience, with total transaction value around $7bn for a consecutive quarter. 

Notable deals involved Merck & Co., Johnson & Johnson, and Asahi Kasei. Despite a YoY decline in VC & growth capital investments, major funding rounds took place for Isotopen Technologien München, Pheon Therapeutics, and Amber Therapeutics. Public markets regained momentum with Cinclus Pharma’s IPO on Nasdaq Stockholm.

Read our quarterly update and get all the details and insights from the Life Sciences deals landscape developments in Q2 2024.

In Q1 2024, the European M&A market performance in the pharmaceutical sector remained solid, with a total transaction value nearing $7bn.

Notable pharmaceutical deals involved Novartis, Novo Nordisk and Alexion / AstraZeneca, acquiring European targets. While the volume of VC & growth capital deals remained stable, we saw an active quarter for IPO & follow-on offerings after a challenging few years in the public market.

Read our quarterly update and get all the details and insights from the Life Sciences deals landscape developments in Q1 2024.

The publication covers M&A, VC & growth capital, and IPO & and follow-on deals for European companies.

How have Life Sciences deals performed in terms of number and value over the last few years? We discuss the downturn in the M&A market, the slightly lower VC & growth capital activity and provide a breakdown of notable IPO listings. Further, we have compiled an outlook for 2024, which is cautiously optimistic.

We saw a mixed performance in Life Sciences deals involving European targets. The 2023 M&A deal value declined, VC & growth capital deals remained stable, follow-on deals increased significantly compared to 2022 amid a brightening public market outlook.

While deal activity remained stable after a decline in Q2, the total deal value peaked in Q3, primarily driven by Danaher’s multi-billion acquisition of Abcam.

VC & growth capital deal volume remained steady over the year, exceeding $1b in value and 70 transactions per quarter.

IPO activity remained low, with the Schott Pharma IPO and the Argenx’s follow-on deal standing out in Q3.