March 23 (SeeNews) - Romania's mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market held the largest value in Southeastern Europe (SEE) in 2016 - $3.54 billion (3.58 million euro), slightly lower than $3.65 billion in 2015, according to global consultancy Ernst&Young (EY).
In terms of number of transactions Romania was the leader in the region with 113 deals completed in 2016, EY says in its report CSE M&A Barometer 2016.
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The EY M&A Barometer includes 11 Central and South Eastern European (CSE) countries - Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey.
In all of the SEE countries included in the research, the M&A market value declined last year, while in terms of number of transactions Croatia was the only country which posted an increase - to 28 deals, from 27 in 2015.
Serbia posted the largest decline in SEE, as M&A market value in the country fell from $940 million in 2015 to $40 million in 2016. The total number of transactions in the country declined to 13 in 2016 from 45 in 2015.
"The significant drop was due to long lasting transaction and approval processes that result in protracted deals to be closed in 2017," EY noted.
Slovenia's M&A market value halved to $350 million from $670 million in 2016, as 17 deals were struck.
In Bulgaria, the M&A market value decreased to $680 million generated by 33 acquisitions, compared to $970 million with 50 deals in 2015.
The most active M&A sectors in terms of deal volume, by country:
|
Industry |
Bulgaria |
IT |
Croatia |
Food and beverages, retail and wholesale, services, real estate |
Romania |
Manufacturing |
Serbia |
Construction |
Slovenia |
Retail and wholesale |
Most active foreign investors by number of transactions:
|
Foreign investor and number of deals |
Bulgaria |
France (2), Netherlands (2), Austria (2) |
Croatia |
France (3), Italy (3), USA (2), Slovenia (2) |
Romania |
Germany (12), France (7), Poland (5) |
Serbia |
Poland (1), France (1), UAE (1), Russia (1) |
Slovenia |
UK (1), Germany (1), France (1) |
Source: EY
($=0.9270 euro)