CD&R and McKesson have agreed to take Option Care Health private for $32.05 per share, an enterprise value of about $5.8 billion and a premium of roughly 37% to the October 5 close. CD&R will own about 51% and McKesson will put in about $1.4 billion for the remaining 49%, with a built-in framework for McKesson to buy out CD&R later. Closing is targeted for the first half of 2027.
What happened
Option Care Health, the largest independent provider of home and alternate site infusion services in the US, signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by a consortium led by private equity firm CD&R, with McKesson as the strategic minority partner. The company runs a national footprint of home and ambulatory infusion sites across all 50 states, with more than 8,000 employees, over 5,000 of them clinicians.
The structure is the interesting part. Option Care will stay a separate company under its existing management. McKesson will account for its stake using the equity method, so it gets exposure to the business without consolidating it on day one. The agreement also sets out conditions under which McKesson could later acquire CD&R’s interest. A group of five banks is providing committed financing. Option Care has withdrawn its 2026 guidance and will publish third-quarter results on November 4 without a conference call.
Why it matters
This deal is about where specialty drugs get administered, and who controls that last mile. Infusion therapy for chronic and complex conditions has been moving out of the hospital outpatient department and into the home and freestanding infusion suites, because those settings are usually cheaper for payers and more convenient for patients. McKesson framed its investment explicitly around delivering complex therapies in lower-cost community settings, at or closer to home.
For McKesson, the minority stake with a path to control is a measured way to move further downstream. The company already sits at the center of US drug distribution and has been building out its specialty and community provider businesses. Owning a share of a national infusion operator gives it visibility into how specialty, rare and orphan therapies are actually dispensed and administered, and a stronger pitch to biopharma companies launching those products. Using CD&R as majority owner keeps leverage and operating risk off McKesson’s balance sheet while it tests the fit.
For CD&R, this is a classic healthcare services platform play: a scaled, fragmented-market leader where operating discipline, technology and tuck-in acquisitions can lift margins outside the quarterly spotlight. The 37% premium tells you both buyers see long-term value that the public market was not pricing in.
It also closes a chapter. Option Care tried to grow by combination before, agreeing to merge with home health operator Amedisys in 2023 before that deal was abandoned in favor of a rival offer. This time the company is the target, and the answer to its scale question is private ownership with a distributor alongside.
Who feels it
Hospitals and health systems. Many run their own outpatient infusion centers, which are lucrative. A better-capitalized Option Care with distributor backing can push harder for site-of-care shifts that payers favor, putting pressure on hospital infusion volumes while also offering partnership options for systems that want to offload capacity.
Payers and PBMs. Insurers have been steering infusions to lower-cost sites. A larger independent network gives them another scaled option beyond vertically integrated competitors, which could strengthen Option Care’s hand in contract talks.
Biopharma manufacturers. Companies launching infused specialty and rare disease therapies need nursing, cold chain and reimbursement support at the patient’s door. A distributor-linked infusion network could become a more integrated launch partner, which is exactly the value McKesson is signaling.
Competing infusion providers. Regional home infusion pharmacies and ambulatory infusion operators face a rival with deeper pockets and a privileged supply relationship. Expect more consolidation among smaller players, either by Option Care itself or by rivals seeking scale to compete.
Rival distributors. Cencora and Cardinal Health will watch closely. If McKesson eventually takes full control, it would own a care delivery asset that many infusion customers today treat as neutral.
Readers tracking how care delivery models are shifting across providers, devices and drug supply chains can explore our healthcare and medical devices market research.
What to watch
First, antitrust review. A drug distributor taking a large stake in a major infusion provider invites questions about vertical foreclosure, preferential supply and data access, so watch for any extended review or behavioral commitments. Second, the stockholder vote and whether any rival bidder emerges before the proxy is mailed. Third, the terms of McKesson’s future buyout of CD&R, which will reveal how quickly McKesson wants full ownership. The consortium has laid out the ownership split, financing and timeline in its official transaction announcement from CD&R, and those terms are the baseline to measure any changes against. Finally, watch reimbursement policy: any Medicare or commercial payer changes to home infusion coverage would directly affect the investment case.
Bottom line: McKesson is buying an option on the last mile of specialty drug delivery, and CD&R is financing the bet. If home infusion keeps taking share from hospitals, this structure gives McKesson a low-risk path to own it outright.