Physician Medical Group M&A Activity Continued to Decline in Q4: 2019, According to Acquisition Data from Healthcaremanda.com

NORWALK, Conn., Jan. 23, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Merger and acquisition activity in the Physician Medical Group sector fell 45%, with 41 transactions announced in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to data from HealthCareMandA.com. The total is the lowest reported in the previous four quarters. M&A declined 37% compared with the fourth quarter in 2018, when 65 deals were announced.

One deal disclosed a price in the fourth quarter of 2019, as the Swiss private equity firm Partners Group paid $2.2 billion to acquire Ballwin, Missouri-based EyeCare Partners from FFL Partners. EyeCare Partners offers comprehensive medical eye care services in 450 locations across 13 states, employing approximately 585 physicians. Ophthalmology practices were the most popular segment for investors in the fourth quarter, with 12 deals announced. Six deals for dental practices were announced and five for gastroenterology practices.

"Many deal makers are still bullish on this sector, but the quarterly data showed some softness in 2019," said Lisa E. Phillips, editor of The Health Care M&A Report, which publishes the data. "The introduction of the 'surprise medical billing' legislation last year has caused some buyers to take a wait-and-see approach to the market going into 2020. While that attitude affects emergency medicine and anesthesiology practices, we still expect to see platform-building continue in the dental, dermatology and ophthalmology areas."

All quarterly results are published in The Health Care M&A, which is part of the HealthCareMandA.com investment research source. For more sector-specific research and analysis, please see The Physician Medical Group 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. The company publishes research reports and newsletters and maintains databases on the healthcare and seniors housing M&A markets.

SOURCE HealthCareMandA.com