Takeover rumours; EMED equates to $15 per share if C
B: IBC: Takeover rumours; EMED equates to $15 per share if ChannelHealth VC
financing valuation modeled
JAN 25, 2000, M2 Communications - Irvine, CA -- (Ibchannel.com) --
IBChannel.com reported today that MEDCOM USA (Nasdaq: EMED) subsidiary
Justmed.com Pre-IPO would equate to $15.00 per EMED share based on the
valuation placed on ChannelHealth which announced that Pequot Private
Equity has invested $30 million in the company at a pre-money valuation
of $300 million.
ChannelHealth, an emerging leader in Internet healthcare which
recently announced a new alliance with Healtheon / WebMD (Nasdaq: HLTH)
said the financing will be used to continue the build out of the
technology company, enabling physicians to automate clinical workflow
and deliver personalized patient care via the Internet.
MedCom USA (Nasdaq: EMED), which plans an IPO for its Internet
healthcare subsidiary JustMed.com, operates four key health care
business units: Medcard, an electronic transaction service for
physicians, clinics and hospitals that has been endorsed by the New
York County Medical Association, the Los Angeles County Medical
Association and the Suffolk County Medical Association; JustMed.com, a
pure play Internet health care Web site; Med Store, an e-commerce site
for selling home medical equipment (HME) products; and One Medical
Service, an electronic kiosk system for selling HME products through
pharmacies that is marketed exclusively by Bergen Brunswig (NYSE: BBS).
Each of these business units has business-to-business and
business-to-consumer elements for producing revenue.
Similar to some of Medcom USA 's services (Nasdaq: EMED)
ChannelHealth was launched in October 1999 to bring Internet services
to the healthcare community as well as the connectivity and e-commerce
services required to support efficient healthcare delivery.
Additionally MEDCOM USA (Nadsaq: EMED) has implemented a similar
strategy as Healtheon/ WebMD in aligning with EFS Concord EFS (Nasdaq:
CEFS) for its electronic transaction services. Healtheon has recently
struck deals with IDX (Nasdaq: IDXC) amd Quintiles (Nasdaq: QTRN).
The stock of Healtheon/WebMD Inc. (NasdaqNM:HLTH ) has been soaring
after analysts said the firm was undervalued and takeover rumors
emerged according to Reuters.
"We think Healtheon/WebMD is undervalued relative to its
competitors," said Anthony Vendetti, an analyst at Gruntal & Co. "This
disparity is unjustified." Lee noted that the fundamentals of the
company are very strong and as more Wall Street firms initiate coverage
of the stock, institutional buying interest has grown.
"We are in a momentum driven environment right now," he said.
Looking at the company from a balance sheet perspective Healtheon is
valued some 7-to-8 times lower than competitor CareInsite Inc.
(NasdaqNM: CARI), which also offers clinical and administrative
e-commerce transactions, Vendetti said.
But Healtheon/WebMD, which took its current form in November
following a four-way merger of Healtheon, WebMD, Mede America Corp. and
Greenberg News Network, is an early leader in its field, the analyst
said.
"They have the brand awareness and we feel that a couple of recent
deals have not been factored into the stock price," Vendetti said.
He was referring to a $1 billion investment in the company from media
giant News Corp. (NCP.AX) that was announced in December and an
agreement early this month with drugstore chain CVS Corp. (NYSE:CVS) to
be Healtheon/WebMD's exclusive on-line pharmacy.
In addition, because Healtheon/WebMD is the leading player in its
industry, the company is getting "AOL-type billing," and other
companies are willing to pay them a listing fee, Vendetti said.
Earlier this week, the company said closely-held Medibuy.com, a San
Diego online retailer of medical supplies, will pay Healtheon/WebMD
$45.5 million over three years to be the preferred supply hub on
WebMD's Web site.
"That is comparable to the $80-something million that drkoop.com
(NasdaqNM:KOOP - news) paid to be listed on AOL," Bendetti said.
VentureOne, the nation's leading provider of venture capital
information and services, announced recently that $19.4 billion were
raised in 248 venture-backed IPOs in 1999. This is double the record
set in 1996, when the Internet first began to impact the IPO market.
The first quarter has been robust with Neoforman (Nasdaq: NEOF) and
Fourth quarter was strong with $7.2 billion raised in 75 venture-backed
IPOs. The number of public offerings has remained on an even keel since
the second quarter of the year, but at a level twice higher than that
of 1997 and 1998. Promising IPO's such as MedCom USA's (Nasdaq: EMED)
Justmed.com may enable a strong second quarter as well.
The single most lucrative industry segment was communications and
networking, where $5.9 billion were raised at IPO. This segment had a
particularly Intense fourth quarter that included four $200+ million
IPOs: Sycamore Networks (Nasdaq: SCMR), Allied Riser Communications
(Nasdaq: ARCC), Tritel (Nasdaq: TTEL), and Classic Communications
(Nasdaq: CLSC).
Fourth-quarter M&A activity was crowned by the November acquisition
of integrated circuit developer I-Cube (Campbell, CA) by Razorfish
(Nasdaq: RAZF) for $1.4 billion. But in yearly retrospective, even this
paled when compared to the $5.5 billion acquisition of WebMD (Atlanta,
GA) by Healtheon (Nasdaq: HLTH) in the second quarter.
The investment figures included in this release are based on
proprietary research conducted by VentureOne.com in tracking thousands
of U.S. venture-backed companies through in-depth interviews with
company CEOs and CFOs and their investors.
The information contained herein is not guaranteed to be accurate,
and should not be considered to be all-inclusive. The companies that
are discussed in this report, have not approved the statements made in
this report. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties. A company's actual results could
differ materially from those described in any forward-looking
statements or announcements discussed within. This material is for
information purposes only and should not be construed as an offer or
solicitation of an offer to buy or sell the securities. IBC is not a
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www.ibchannel.com. IBC has been compensated by one or more of the
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