Financial crisis has choked the mergers and acquisitions marketplace in Romania, in first five months of this year, drowning it to 199 million euros, 93% down year-on-year, Ioana Filipescu, managing director at Raiffeisen Investment Romania said earlier today at M&A Outlook conferences, organized by Wall-Street, in collaboration with Nexia International.
“M&A activity will keep taking the brunt of financial crisis pressure, apart from the few sectors with growth potential that can still present an opportunity to buyers,” said Ioana Filipescu (photo).
Sectors still on investors’ radar are healthcare, technology and retail and other industries likely to remain stable – telecoms, pharma, and other sub-fields, in energy – the majority of the deals will be small-sized, involving struggling companies with major ‘re-engineering’ components.
The number of deals closed in 2009 shrank 14% year-on-year, as Raiffeisen Investment data reveal. Therefore, if in the five months to May 2008, 71 transactions were concluded, only 61 were announced for 2009.
In default of mega deals, the average transaction size stood at 6.9 million euros this year, down by a staggering 84%from prior-year period’s average.
The largest deal in 2009 was the acquisition of nearly 50% equity position in Renault Tehnologie Roumanie by European Bank for Reconstruction and Development after providing 44 million euros to the car maker’s capital.
The number of real estate transactions closed in first five months this year dropped 40%, to only 6.
M&A market suffered a global decline of 36% year-to-date compared to 2008, up to 731.3 billion dollars, Thomson Reuters informed.
