Law360 Cites Two Ropes & Gray Partners on Uptick in Health Care Deal-Making

A Jan. 13 Law360 article on deal-making at JPMorgan’s annual week-long health care conference in San Francisco quotes private equity partner Neill Jakobe (Chicago) and life sciences partner Michael Beauvais (Boston).

Mr. Jakobe notes that people are feeling more confident about the initial public offering (IPO) market, particularly for health care and life science companies, which are becoming more of a viable investment exit alternative.

Mr. Beauvais advises that “dual track” IPOs will become more appealing as companies become more confident about stock valuations.  A dual track IPO occurs when a company files for an IPO while simultaneously considering bids from potential acquirers - and then takes the better deal. Mr. Beauvais also expects reverse mergers (when existing public companies whose drug candidates have failed merge with a private company that has more promising prospects) to remain a viable path. With unused cash, the public company injects much-needed resources into the private company, which gains a cheaper path to public markets than filing an IPO.