November 2 (SeeNews) - Romania's mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market recorded an estimated value of $4 billion (4.03 billion euro) in the first nine months of 2022, compared to $5.4 billion a year ago, global consultancy Ernst&Young (EY) said on Wednesday.
Despite the drop in the estimated value, there was a 18% annual increase in volume, as the Romanian M&A market recorded 169 transactions in the January-September period of 2022, EY said in a press release.
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On a quarterly basis, deal activity has increased, with volumes up by 3.6% and value by 5.3% as compared with the same period of 2021.
"Romania continues to be a dominant M&A market at a CEE level and is one of the few that showed growth in volume of transactions compared to 2021. Although we expect the next M&A cycle to be different, the unprecedented amount and mix of available capital have increased investors’ ability to do deals in a volatile environment thus setting a path for M&A to remain active, especially for players eyeing long term growth," EY Romania partner and head of lead advisory, strategy and transactions Iulia Bratu said.
Strategic investors continue to be the dominant players of Romania’s M&A market, accounting for 88% of transactions during the first nine months of 2022. Domestic transactions registered a 27% annual advance in the review period, counting 84 transactions, while foreign players increased their activity by only 6% or 74 transactions, when compared to the same period.
In terms of country of origin, the most active investing countries were the United States, followed by Belgium, Poland and Germany. The most active sectors during the first nine months of 2022 were technology, real estate, healthcare, diversified industrial products, power and utilities.
No deals over $100 million were announced during the third quarter. The largest disclosed deal during the third quarter was the acquisition of Mintia thermal power plant, part of Hunedoara Energy Complex, by Iraq's Mass Group Holding for a reported $90.7 million.
Next was the acquisition of Canadian renewable energy company Jade Power Trust renewable energy assets in Romania by Austria-based renewable energy company Enery Power Holding GMbH for $71 million.
Another notable transaction during the third quarter was the sale of a 20% stake in Romanian spring water company AQUA Carpatica to U.S.-based food and beverage company PepsiCo for an undisclosed amount.
EY’s M&A database for Romania excludes transactions with stakes acquired of less than 15%. Also, it includes an estimate of the value of transactions where no data was formerly disclosed by the parties or is not available in third party databases and/or reported by media sources.
Romania's mergers and acquisitions market jumped by 32% in terms of value to an estimated $6.2 billion in 2021, according to EY data released in January.
($= 1.0068 euro)