October 28 (SeeNews) - Serbia's mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market posted the sharpest decline in value in Southeastern Europe (SEE) in the first half of the year - to $30 million (27.5 million euro) from $700 million in the like period a year earlier, global consultancy Ernst&Young (E&Y) said.
In terms of number of transactions too Serbia reported the region's biggest drop as they fell 2.5 times to nine, E&Y said in its CSE M&A Barometer H1 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.
Croatia was the only country in SEE to see an increase in the number of M&A deals, however their value halved to $200 million in the six month period.
Slovenia's M&A market value fell five times to $100 million, as nine deals were struck.
In Bulgaria the M&A market value remained unchanged at $600 million while the number of acquisitions fell by 1 to 22.
Romania's mergers and acquisitions market halved in terms of value to an estimated $1.1 billion in the first six months of 2016. Romania was the top country in the region by number of transactions - 56 - in the period under review.
($=0.9169 euro)