August slowdown or COVID slowdown? Or both?

investor profile

August 20, 2020

by an investor from Carnegie Mellon University - Tepper School of Business in Philadelphia, PA, USA

I started my (broker, rather than proprietary) search in earnest in May and have noticed a significant slowdown in new deals coming to market in the past 4-6 weeks.

Is it just the brokers with whom I'm speaking not getting new deals? Is the slowdown typical for August w/ brokers and sellers going on holiday? Or is it COVID related, given the tons of uncertainty in the past 5 months and in the next 12 months? Or perhaps some confluence of factors.

I'm looking to the more experienced searchers / bankers / investors for their experience of years past.

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commentor profile
Reply by a searcher
from Harvard University in Omaha, NE, USA
An August slowdown is typical every year due to vacations and back-to-school attention. I'm sure COVID-19 is having some impact this year. Keep your broker outreach going to build those relationships. You might not see a lot of deals this month, but if you're making those intermediary connections, post-Labor day you'll see deal flow pick back up.
commentor profile
Reply by an investor
from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Atlanta, GA, USA
A few intermediaries have also mentioned that getting closer to the election and the COVID uncertainty has had owners put off selling for the time being. I assume the drop is due to this combined with the summer.
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