Romania's 2022 M&A market value rises to $6.6 bln - EY

The Romanian M&A market recorded 258 transactions in 2022, up by an annual 26%, EY said in a press release.

M&A activity in Romania bucked the declining global and regional trends. Multiple disruptions caused by high uncertainty, rising financing costs, higher energy prices and supply chain hurdles brought down the value of the global and European M&A markets by an annual 37% and 28%, respectively.

Strategic investors continue to be the dominant players of Romania’s M&A market, accounting for 88% of transactions during 2022. Domestic transactions registered a 6% annual advance in the review period, counting 119 transactions, while foreign players increased their activity by 38% or 119 transactions, when compared to the same period.

In terms of country of origin, the most active investing countries were the United States, followed by Germany, Great Britain, Belgium and Poland. The most active sectors during 2022 were technology, real estate, healthcare, power and utilities and diversified industrial products.

The largest disclosed deal during 2022 was the acquisition of Exxon Mobil's 50% stake in the Black Sea offshore project Neptun Deep by Romanian natural gas producer Romgaz for a reported value of $1.06 billion. Next came the acquisition of Ford Romania by Turkey's Ford Ford Otosan for $785 million and Paval Holding Properties' deal for Vienna-headquartered CA Immo's local portfolio of seven office buildings for $389 million.

Other notable transactions last year were the acquisition of Romanian software engineering services company Fortech by U.S.-based digital services company GlobalLogic for an estimated $255 million and Cypriot lender Bank of Cyprus sale of $158 million in Romanian non-performing loans (NPLs) to a unit of APS Group were also among the biggest deals last year, according to EY.

($= 0.9228 euro)