Activity in the behavioral health care M&A market increased in the first quarter of 2020, up 20% with 18 publicly announced transactions, compared with 15 transactions in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to data from HealthCareMandA.com. The first quarter’s deal volume even beat numbers from the first quarter of 2019. Deal volume in Q1:20 was up by 29% versus the 14 deals announced a year earlier. Only one transaction disclosed a price in the quarter, for $120 million.
“The targets were more varied than usual in the first quarter. Autism and substance use disorder services typically top the list,” said Lisa E. Phillips, editor of The Health Care M&A Report, which publishes the data. “In Q1, investors spread their focus to inpatient psychiatric facilities, eating disorder treatment and adolescent-focused services.”
The first quarter’s only deal with an announced price came from Blue Sprig Pediatrics’ acquisition of the Florida Autism Center and Fusion Autism Center (FAC) for $120 million. FAC provides Applied Behavior Analysis therapy services treating children with autism spectrum disorder. Blue Sprig Pediatrics was formed by KKR & Co. in January 2018 and is the largest autism services provider in Texas with locations in Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, and Washington.
Caregiver Inc., which provides behavioral services to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), was the most active buyer in the quarter, bolstering its portfolio with four new companies in March, located in Ohio (2), Indiana and Tennessee.
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.
