Memphis, TN – Despite tightening credit markets, at least one regional brokerage and investment banking firm sees continued activity in healthcare transactions in 2008.

While there may be few, if any, blockbuster transactions in the healthcare industry, there's likely to be continued consolidation, predicted Michael Hammond, managing director at Shattuck Hammond.

The New York-based firm, a division of Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc., announced or completed 12 healthcare merger and acquistion transactions during the past 12 months, with a combined value of $2.1 billion.

"We continue to experience strong merger and acquisition activity in the healthcare service sector, particularly for 'non-mega' transactions," Hammond said. "From what we're seeing so far, the turmoil in the debt market has generally not materially impacted transactions under $500 million."

The firm remains cautiously optimistic that merger and acquisition activity will continue at similar levels as those experienced last year, Hammond said.

"It's still a quite fragmented business segment," he said. While there has been consolidation among pharmaceutical, hospital and managed care companies, some of the ancillary organizations that serve these segments are still small and fragmented.