Healthcare is a broad sector which encompasses everything from domiciliary care providers to private health and aesthetic care clinics, from contract research organisations to gene editing companies and from Healthcare IT (HCIT) to medical instrumentation.

With a vast global market to address, the sector is highly regulated, creating demanding barriers to entry. At the same time the purchasing cycle can be frustratingly long and the route to market, particularly in the public sector, is a real challenge for new technologies and business offerings. As a result of this, healthcare businesses often require multiple rounds of investment and/or M&A to realise their potential.

While the press tends to focus on mega pharmaceutical and biotechnology-led transactions, the services focussed mid-market is also highly active, with private equity investors and acquirers keen to identify the likely winners in a well-spread field of runners.