With 431 deals announced in the second quarter, acquisition activity was 9% higher than the 394 transactions announced in the previous quarter. Year over year, however, deal volume was 11% lower than the same quarter in 2018, which had 484 deals.

The first quarter of 2019 was the slowest of the previous four quarters, at 394 deals. Happily, the second quarter’s activity picked up, as many deal makers predicted it would. Still, talk of recession has grown more insistent, with deal makers predicting an economic slowdown within 12 months to two years. The urgency to complete deals in 2019 has likely fueled some of the activity we’re seeing this year.

Deal volume in the health care services category, at 287 transactions, was up 10% from the previous quarter. Services deals made up 67% of the quarter’s total, which is slightly higher than the previous quarter, in which the services side accounted for 65%.

Technology deals, which made up 33% of the quarter’s deal volume, were also up by 9% compared with the previous quarter.

Source: HealthCareMandA.com, July 2019