Dive Brief:
- Private equity dealmaking in healthcare surged in 2025, boosted in part by investor interest in health IT firms, according to a report published last week by Bain & Company.
- Healthcare deal value soared to a record-breaking $191 billion last year, surpassing earlier heights seen in 2021, the consultancy estimated using data through November. The number of deals was also strong, with 445 buyouts on record in 2025.
- Transactions involving providers and related services increased 57% year over year to an estimated $62 billion. That spike was spurred by growth in IT — healthcare IT deal value doubled in 2025 to around $32 billion.
Dive Insight:
The boost in private equity dealmaking last year was driven by an increase in large deals, offsetting macroeconomic and policy uncertainty that slowed down transactions early in 2025, according to Bain.
The year started off strong, with the number of deals in the first quarter up around 21% compared with the same period in 2024. But President Donald Trump’s push to enact sweeping tariffs across the globe sent North American private equity deals into a dive in the second quarter, according to the analysis.
Despite the slowdown, healthcare private equity dealmaking rebounded in the second half of the year, spurred by deals worth more than $1 billion. That growth in high-value deals reflects growing interest in segments like medtech and healthcare IT, according to the report.
For example, the largest healthcare private equity deal in 2025 — making up about 9% of total healthcare PE value — was Blackstone and TPG’s acquisition of women’s health medical technology firm Hologic.
IT was also a significant focus, as investors looked to tools for work like analytics and workforce optimization, according to the report. Deals for IT firms made up nearly 20% of healthcare transactions last year, compared with 15% in 2021.
“Healthcare private equity delivered a record performance last year as large deals spiked and deal count rose across all tiers, with the biopharma and provider segments leading the way, driven by healthcare IT activity,” Kara Murphy, partner at Bain & Company and co-leader of its healthcare private equity team, said in a statement. “The stage is set for an active 2026 due to high levels of dry powder and a growing cohort of sponsor-owned assets reaching the end of their fund lives.”
Health IT will likely remain a key investment area for private equity next year, as providers and payers prioritize IT improvements, according to Bain.
Generative artificial intelligence, which can create new content like text or images, is another area of opportunity for health IT businesses. The technology represents an enticing opportunity for the healthcare sector, igniting hopes it could automate administrative tasks and potentially drive cost savings for healthcare organizations.
But there are risks too. Incumbent health IT firms will likely have to add generative AI tools, or they could lose their market position to other AI-native companies, according to the report.
