This month’s headlines have a slant toward actual M&A news or potential M&A activity in the market with several acquisitions taking place in Europe and rumours of others coming. We have also provided a link to Bain’s latest M&A article which shows trends in the health services sphere, including a boom in Asia Pacific deals.

We have provided, in the international insurers section, a brief review of the Annual Reports from the five major players: Aetna, Allianz, AXA, Bupa and Cigna. Internally, in these large health insurers, we are seeing some restructuring at AXA and a new leader for BUPA Global. New products offered continue to focus on mental health.

One of the most interesting articles from this month’s news comes from Ray Fabius, President of HealthNEXT, who found that companies with a ‘culture of health’ outperform the stock market by an average of 2% per year. Funds continue to pour into health ventures especially chronic condition management.