May 9 (SeeNews) - Romania's market of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is expected to be dominated by banking and real estate deals in 2017, much like last year, global consultancy Ernst&Young (EY) said on Tuesday.
In real estate investment, interest is mainly directed at shopping centers and offices, through real estate investment funds, but there are signs of shy revival on the residential side, EY said in a press release.
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Medical services area is also expected to be active this year in terms of deals, mostly because of private players Medlife and Regina Maria, which will continue to grow business through acquisitions. In the retail sector, the acquisition of Romanian retailer Profi by Mid Europa Partners is expected to generate consolidation in the sector, EY added.
Other sectors, in which mergers and acquisitions can be expected to take place in Romania this year, are consumer products such as food and beverages, industrial products and IT services for companies.
"Another trend of recent years are Romanian investments outside the country, especially in the immediate adjacent region. There are local players - some for the first time - looking at targets outside Romania," EY Romania executive director, Liliana Busoiu, said.
Romania's M&A market shrank 3% on the year in terms of value to an estimated $3.54 billion (3.24 billion euro) in 2016, EY said in its Romania M&A Barometer 2016 published on Tuesday.
Romania occupies the third place among the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, with 113 transactions in 2016, down from 123 a year earlier. The most attractive sectors for investors were manufacturing, with 20 deals in 2016, services with 12 deals and IT and food/beverages with 11 deals each.
Domestic transactions accounted for 41% of the total number of deals, inbound transactions for 57% and outbound transactions accounted for 2% of the deals made during 2016, EY added.
In 2016, out of a total of 64 inbound transactions, the largest number came from the Germany with 12 transactions representing 19%, followed by France with 11% and Poland with 8%.
Transaction value was disclosed for 44 deals, resulting in a disclosure rate of 39%.
Details about the ten top M&A deals in Romania in 2016 follow:
Target company |
Buyer company |
Value ($mln) |
SAB Miller's business in Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Poland, Hungary and Romania |
Asahi Group Holdings |
700* |
KMG International N.V (51% stake) |
CEFC China Energy Company Limited |
680* |
S.C. ProfiRom Food S.R.L. |
Mid Europa Partners LLP |
564 |
E.ON Distributie Romania (30% stake) |
Allianz Capital Partners GmbH |
286 |
Shopping City Sibiu |
NEPI |
112 |
Albalact SA |
GroupeLactalisS.A. |
98 |
StiromS.A. (85.6% stake) |
BA VidroS.A. |
85 |
S.C. ASTRA RAIL Industries S.R.L. |
WagonySwidnicaS. A. |
66 |
McDonald's Romania S.R.L. |
Premier Capital S.r.l. |
65 |
Green Group (75% stake) |
AbrisCapital Partners |
57 |
*Note: as the transaction value was not publicly disclosed, an estimation from specialized sources in the market was used
Source: Ernst&Young
($ = 0.9172 euro)