NORWALK, CT – January 24, 2019 –Physician medical group M&A activity rose in the fourth quarter of 2018, compared with the previous quarter and the year-ago quarter, according to new data from HealthCareMandA.com. The number of physician medical group acquisitions in Q4:18 totaled 63, a 19% increase from the third quarter’s total of 53 transactions and a 47% increase from the 43 deals announced in fourth quarter in 2017. Only three transactions disclosed prices in the quarter, at $29.9 million, representing a nearly 100% drop from 2017’s fourth quarter total of $4.3 billion.
The largest of the three acquisitions to reveal a purchase price was Mid-Atlantic Dental Partners’ $19.9 million deal for publicly traded Birner Dental Management, which employs more than 100 dentists in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Also, Lompoc Valley Medical Center in California acquired the real estate assets of nearby Sansum Clinic for $8.75 million and Hartford HealthCare in Connecticut acquired Middlesex Cardiology Associates for $1.3 million. The practice has nine cardiologists and 48 support staff.
Dermatology practices were the most popular targets this quarter with 14 of the 63 total transactions. Eleven private equity firms made direct acquisitions, while 32 PE-sponsored physician medical groups made add-on acquisitions. Publicly traded MEDNAX and U.S. Dermatology Partners, a portfolio company of Abry Partners, were the most prolific deal makers in the quarter, announcing four deals each.
“The last few years have been a perfect storm for physician medical practice acquisitions,” said Lisa E. Phillips, editor of the Health Care M&A Report, which publishes the data. “Many are too small to afford the technology required to comply with federal regulations and others are so large that they need an outside manager. Private equity firms have stepped in to fill those gaps.”
All quarterly results are published in The Health Care M&A Report for all 13 sectors of health care, which is part of the HealthCareMandA.com. For more information, or to order the report, call 800-248-1668. Irving Levin Associates, Inc. was established in 1948 and has headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut. Irving Levin Associates is celebrating 70 years of delivering exclusive M&A intelligence to its sophisticated audience of seniors housing and healthcare investors, and 2018 marked the fourth year in a row that the firm was recognized by Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest growing media companies in the country. The company publishes research reports and newsletters, and maintains databases on the health care and senior housing M&A markets.
