As we prepared this past weekend to escape the 95°F cauldron of Manhattan for the relief of the 98°F oven in the Outer Banks, our thoughts turned to which industries have proven to be the hottest so far this year.

In terms of new issues for middle market sponsored transactions, healthcare has been the most active both this year and 2015, according to Thomson Reuters. As our Chart of the Week illustrates, private equity sponsors recorded about $3 billion in deal activity in that sector through this month. That tracks 2015’s full year tally of $6.4 billion.

Our experience has confirmed this trend, with healthcare services, technology, and devices topping the most active sub-sectors in the space.

The reasons for this are several. Private equity sponsors with successful track records in healthcare have well-established views by now on matters such as reimbursement risk, electronic medical records, and insurance reform.

There is also the fact that