Behavioral Health Care M&A Activity Slowed in Q4:2019, According to Acquisition Data From Healthcaremanda.com

NORWALK, Conn., Jan. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Activity in the behavioral health care M&A market slowed in the fourth quarter of 2019, down 21% with 15 publicly announced transactions, compared with 19 transactions in the third quarter, according to data from HealthCareMandA.com. The decline in deal volume was even more dramatic compared with the fourth quarter of 2018. Deal volume in Q4:19 was down by 46% versus the 28 deals announced a year earlier. Only one transaction disclosed a price in the quarter, for $415 million.

"This sector has seen years of growth as private equity firms have piled in to build national and regional platforms around addiction treatment and autism programs and services. It's not surprising to see more contraction after several years of growth," said Lisa E. Phillips, editor of The Health Care M&A Report, which publishes the data. "Autism is still the hottest commodity in the sector, but investor interest in substance abuse programs and inpatient psychiatric facilities has waned a bit."

The sole deal to report a price was announced by Thomas H. Lee Partners. The private equity firm paid $415 million to acquire Centria Healthcare from Martis Capital and Lorient Capital. Centria is the largest provider in Michigan and operates in Arizona, California, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Washington. It also provides pediatric nursing and catastrophic injury care.

Discovery Behavioral Health, a portfolio company of Webster Equity Partners, was the most active acquirer in the quarter, announcing three transactions targeting companies specializing in drug and alcohol treatment programs in California (2) and Maryland (1).

All quarterly results are published in The Health Care M&A, which is part of the HealthCareMandA.com investment research source. Sector-specific research and analysis can be found in The Behavioral Health Care Acquisition Report 2019 . For information, or to order the report, call 800-248-1668. Irving Levin Associates is celebrating more than 70 years of delivering exclusive M&A intelligence to its sophisticated audience of seniors housing and healthcare investors. The company was established in 1948 and has headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut.

SOURCE HealthCareMandA.com