Marriage of private equity and healthcare has a bright future, specialist investor says

There has never been a better time to raise money for companies in the life sciences sector, according to Ben Long (pictured), partner at UK-headquartered private equity firm Inflexion.

“Anything with healthcare on it is going to receive a lot of demand from private equity, in particular, because there’s a set pool of capital out there which needs to be invested and, for the last 12 months, really the only sectors where you’ve been able to find certainty, or something close to certainty, have been healthcare and technology,” Mr Long explained.

A rare positive from the pandemic is that it has provided a reminder of the societal value of healthcare, but Mr Long said that the sector’s attractiveness as an investment opportunity had already become evident for firms like his before COVID-19 came along.