Economic conditions are the major factor in acquisitions rate fluctuations. In times of negative economic growth, liquidation rates tend to rise. In the year to March 1993 (just over 12 months after the 1990s recession ended) the liquidation rate was at its highest level at 2.6 per cent. The next peak in the liquidation rate occurred in 2009 following the 2008/9 recession, when 19,200 companies entered liquidation (0.9 per cent).
Although the actual number of liquidations was only marginally higher in 1999, the liquidation rate was much higher than in 2016 as there are nearly twice as many registered companies now than in 1999.