The number of deals in Romania is likely to remain well below the hectic pace before the onset of the financial crisis for another 30-50 years, since the ‘era’ of large privatizations has come to an end.

“Our forecasts for the local M&A market suggest a decline in deal number average to below €5 million over the next 2-3 years”, said Marius Stancescu (photo), chairman of Riff Holding International.

He added that one year and a half, or two years from now, after the local M&A market will have emerged from this crisis, the deal activity will start to pick up.

“I expect the deal size to fall below 2009 levels. And this is a good thing, because companies with revenues below €1 million will be on the sell side, which wouldn’t see before the onset of the financial crisis”, Stancescu pointed out.

The local M&A market rose 75% in the first quarter this year, from the same period of 2009, to €178 million, according to a Capital Partners study.

25 deals were announced in the first quarter, 79% more than 14 a year earlier.