With the passage of healthcare reform in th United States, there has been a tremendous amount of consolidation in the healthcare sector as companies seek to remain competitive while meeting new regulatory requirements. Dechert LLP has been on the forefront of this trend, advising on numerous M&A transactions in the healthcare sector in recent months.

In particular, Dechert has advised:

• Ventas on the proposed $7.4 billion purchase of Nationwide Health Properties, Inc. in a stock-for-stock transaction, creating one of the largest ever publicly traded REITs and the leading healthcare REIT by equity value. Susan Hendrickson, the head of Dechert's Health Law practice, Dwayne Ritchie, Ian Wallace, Dina Kasper and Anthony Lagreca are providing regulatory counsel to Ventas.
• Ventas in its $3.1 billion acquisition of the real estate assets of Atria Senior Living Group, the fourth largest operator of assisted living properties in the United States. The Dechert team providing regulatory and corporate counsel to Ventas includes Susan Hendrickson, Dwayne Ritchie, Ian Wallace, Anthony Lagreca, James Hipolit, Anthony Frick, Joshua Schmidt, Jon Stott, Dina Kasper and Susan Kilgore; and the real estate (FRE) team advising Ventas in connection with this transaction includes David Forti, Jason Rozes, John Schwartz and Allyson Levy. 
• Covance Inc. in its execution of a 10-year, $2.2 billion strategic alliance with Sanofi-aventis. As part of the transaction, Covance acquired Sanofi's research and development sites in Porcheville, France and Alnwick in the United Kingdom for approximately $25 million and is providing Sanofi with research and development services in the fields of toxicology, chemistry and all stages of clinical study development. The international and multi-disciplinary team that advised Covance in this transaction was led by James Lebovitz and included Michael Fischette, Dane Baumgardner, Emmanuelle Trombe and Anthony Paronneau (Corporate - Corp); Abbi Cohen (Environmental - Env); Mark Stapleton and Julien Monsenego (Tax); William Fryzer, Alisa Fudge, Justin True and David Gervais (FRE); Charles Wynn-Evans, Michael McCartney and Emma Richardson (Labor); and Isabelle Rahman and Greg Bonne (Antitrust - AT).
• Universal American Corp. in the proposed $1.25 billion sale of its Medicare Prescription Drug business to CVS Caremark Corporation. Susan Hendrickson and Dwayne Ritchie are providing regulatory advice to Universal American Corp.
• Arizant Inc., a leading manufacturer of patient warming solutions designed to prevent hypothermia in surgical settings, in connection with Court Square Capital Partner’s sale of the company to 3M Company for $810 million in cash. Led by Corporate partner Craig Godshall, the interdisciplinary and cross-border team that advised Arizant in its sale includes: Megan Horwitz, Reena Ganju, Jessica Morton, Jonathan Korman, Jonathan Schur, Adrien Martigne, Giovanni Russo and Richard Temko (Corp); Susan Hendrickson (Health); David Shapiro and Joshua Milgrim (Tax); Abbi Cohen and John Ix (Env); David Jones, Frank Tripodi, Eric Rubin and Eric Kirkessner (Employee Benefits - EB); Joshua Rawson, Renzo Marchini, Thomas Rayski and Tayo Giwa (Intellectual Property - IP); Jennifer Coon and Gregory Bonne (AT); and Karla Vuyts and Emma Richardson (Labor).
• DSI Renal, a portfolio company of Centre Partners Management LLC that indirectly operates more than 100 dialysis centers in the United States, in its proposed $690 million sale to DaVita Inc. Led by Corporate partner Mark Thierfelder, the interdisciplinary team advising DSI includes: Derek Winokur, Nilufer Shaikh and Kyle Smith (Corp); Susan Hendrickson (Health); Dan Dunn (Tax); Paul Denis (AT); and David Jones and Eric Rubin (EB).
• Brandywine Senior Living, Inc. management in the $610 million sale of 19 senior housing facilities to Health Care REIT Inc. Corporate partners Henry Nassau and Eric Siegel advised management in this transaction. In addition, Susan Hendrickson provided regulatory counsel to Brandywine Senior Living.
• Prodigy Health Group, one of the nation's largest independent third party administrator (TPA) of self-funded health care plans, and a portfolio company of global private equity firm One Equity Partners, in its proposed $600 million sale to Aetna. Led by Corporate partner Derek Winokur with primary assistance from associate Blair McKechnie, the cross-disciplinary team advising Prodigy includes Edward Lemanowicz and Joshua Milgrim (Tax); David Jones and Frank Tripodi (EB); Paul Denis, Jim Fishkin, Jennifer Coon and Craig Falls (AT); Abbi Cohen (Env); Susan Hendrickson (Health); Thomas Rayski (IP); Ian Downes (Labor); Sean Porter and Francois Quintard-Morenas (FRE).
• Stewart J. Rahr in the sale of Kinray, Inc., a leading pharmaceutical distributor serving the New York metropolitan area, for $1.3 billion in an all-cash transaction to Cardinal Health, Inc. The interdisciplinary team of lawyers was led by corporate partner Craig Godshall, and includes: Stephen Leitzell, Megan Horwitz, Brad Pollack, Victoria Poulton and Susan Kilgore (Corporate); Robert Freedman and Richard Wild (Tax); Jeffrey Brennan, Paul Denis, Jennifer Coon and Rani Habash (AT); Frank Tripodi and Eric Kirkessner (EB); Abbi Cohen (Env); Sean Porter (FRE); Thomas Rayski (IP); and Ian Downes (Labor).