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Blackstone makes a people move that reflects a big bet on healthcare

Good morning, Hubsters. MK Flynn here with the Wire.

We’ll kick things off today with some news I broke earlier this morning about a promotion at Blackstone that reflects the firm’s increasingly large bet on the healthcare sector.

It’s another sign that 2023 is primed for big healthcare deals.

We’ll also take a close look at MiddleGround Capital’s recent acquisition of Megatech, a manufacturer of specialized engineering parts.

Here’s my scoop:

Universe of opportunities. Blackstone has named Anushka Sunder to the new position of head of healthcare for private equity North America, PE Hub has learned.

Effective in January, the move reflects the New York firm’s increasingly large bet on the healthcare sector, as well as a promotion for Sunder, whom PE Hub and Buyouts featured in our 2021 Women in Private Equity coverage.

“Healthcare is an important sector focus for our corporate private equity team led by Anushka,” Joe Baratta, global head of private equity, told me. “We have focused on pharma services, essential healthcare products and the life sciences value chain. We will continue to be very active in this core investment theme.”

With many costs to consumers considered nondiscretionary and therefore recession-resilient, the healthcare sector is expected to generate a lot of dealmaking in 2023.

Sunder sees additional opportunities in today’s market that Blackstone is well positioned to seize, given its size, resources and experience in the sector.

Coming up. In March, we’ll publish the 2023 edition of our Women in Private Equity coverage.

We’ll feature 10 “rockstars” of PE, and we’ll also catch up with some of the folks we’ve covered in the past, including Thoma Bravo’s Tara Gadgil, Apollo’s Christine Hommes and TPG’s Katherine Wood.

Check out PE Hub and Buyouts on the first of March.

High precision. Rising demand for specialized engineered parts in North America attracted MiddleGround Capital, a Lexington, Kentucky-based mid-market private equity firm, to acquire Megatech, a Québec-based manufacturer, in a deal announced in January. To find out more, PE Hub’s Obey Martin Manayiti spoke with Marty Sjoquist, a director on MiddleGround’s investment team.

“Megatech is serving customers in growing end-markets, and as technology advancements continue to occur, these customers will continue to need more complex parts with new geometries that require the types of machining expertise that Megatech can offer,” Sjoquist said. “We think there is an attractive organic growth story in addition to the M&A strategy that we are planning to execute on.”

That’s a wrap for today. Obey will be back tomorrow with Friday’s Wire, including a fresh deal roundup, or “listicle,” as we like to call them.

I’ll see you back here on Monday.

Happy dealmaking,

MK

Read the full wire commentary on PE Hub ...

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