Romania ranks 5th on value of transactions in the region

The most recent CMS survey, Emerging Europe Mergers and Acquisitions 2018, completed in collaboration with EMIS, shows that the UK has been the largest foreign investor in emerging Europe in terms of value with EUR 9.77 billion, whereas the US has been the largest in terms of volume – 89 transactions in 2018.

The value of transactions in emerging Europe reached a total of EUR 80.5 billion in 2018. Romania ranks 5th in the region.

Gabriel Sidere, Managing Partner, CMS Romania says: “Central and Eastern Europe remains an important destination for the international investors, despite the political tensions surfacing the in past two years. Due to a significant economic growth and development opportunities of the markets in the region, Central and Eastern Europe further attracts the looks and interest of international investors. Considering this favourable economic context and the consolidation trends of the M&A markets in the region, we expect the growing trend of transactions volume of the past years to continue in 2019 as well.”

Russia has posted the highest number of deals (605) in Europe in 2018 deal-making ranking , followed by Poland (323), Turkey (193), Czech Republic (188), Romania (130).

Data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed that Russia was the only country in the region whose GDP growth estimate for 2018 lagged behind the 2.4% estimated for the advanced economies. Poland was the star performer of the larger economies in the region with GDP growth forecast at 4.4%, followed by Hungary and Romania growing at 4%.

“Romania was again one of the fastest growing economies, despite a cooling down from the boom years, and it too benefited from the telecoms sector activity that helped lift deal values to the highest since 2012. Volumes fell by 15% from 2017’s peak“, reads the survey findings.