M&A MARKET UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2019 U.S. MONTHLY REVIEW
Notable Trends in September 2019
Year to date, U.S. M&A deal activity has decreased on a year over year basis by 32.6%. The YTD completed deal count as of the end of September is 3,744 deals versus 5,553 deals in 2018. Capital invested is also slightly down decreasing 2.1%, going from $675.5 billion YTD in 2018 to $661.0 billion YTD in 2019. Year to date, the median deal size has nearly doubled, increasing from $44.5 million in 2018 to $84.5 million in 2019. Even though the amount of completed deals has decreased, the increase in median deal sizes has allowed total capital invested to remain relatively constant.
September saw the lowest deal activity for any month this year with only 326 completed deals. The 326 completed deals are 32.8% lower than the 485 completed deals in 2018. September 2018 was also the lowest month in regard to deal activity up and to that point, so September 2019 following the same trend as the previous year.