Local M&A market, up by 160 pc in 2015, PwC Romania shows

The domestic market of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) recorded a strong growth last year, reflecting the global trend. Thus, the Romanian M&A market surpassed EUR 3 billion in 2015, an increase of 160 percent, according to a PwC Romania analysis.

“The last two years were very favourable for the M&A activity, taking into account the extremely low levels of interest rates around the world. It is estimated that this year, the developed nations in the G7 group, will register the highest GDP growth rate since 2010, which will no doubt have an impact on the M&A market. As this period of “cheap money”, if we can call it as such, is slowly coming to an end, investors will be looking for higher returns, taking into account more and more the opportunities on the stable emergent markets – such as the east-European countries”, Radu Stoicoviciu, Advisory Services and Deals Leader, PwC Romania stated.

In Romania, most deals were registered in industrial products and real-estate sectors, with and average deal value of EUR 26 million, most of the deals being small and medium sized transactions. In 2015, global M&A activity beat the record value registered in 2007. The most dynamic sectors in terms of M&A activity were energy, pharmaceuticals and FMCG.

“The optimism in the market is growing, while the economic context is favourable, taking into account the GPD growth forecasts for Romania in 2016. The year also started on a positive note after the announcement of large deals such as the sale of Albalact, Carpatica and McDonald’s Romania, so we expect that the local M&A market to remain on an upward path in 2016, with deals in sectors that were active in 2015 as well, such as banking or real-estate, but also in other industries,” Anda Rojanschi, Partner, D&B David şi Baias, coordinator of the tax and legal services M&A team, said.

She estimates a continued consolidation in the healthcare services market, as well as an increase in transactions in agriculture.