The mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market in Romania is estimated at approximately EUR 1.2-1.4 bln, including all the transactions with a price declared and not officially declared, compared to a value between EUR1.0-1.2 bln in the same period of 2020, Deloitte data show.

The figures should be taken with a grain of salt, though, as most of the transactions have an estimated price, most of them are external deals (change of foreign owners), and one regional deal is fully assigned to Romania - which artificially boosts local market's volume.

The reported transactions alone totaled only EUR 485 mln, compared to EUR 572 mln last year.

The number of transactions indeed increased to 54 in the first half of this year, compared to 42 in the same period of last year.

"The year 2021 looks promising in terms of M&A activity, given the enthusiasm in the local business environment," says Radu Dumitrescu, Financial Consulting Coordinating Partner, Deloitte Romania.

The list of the largest transactions in the first half of 2021 includes London-based Novalpina Capital taking over MaxBet Romania (from another British owner) for an estimated value of EUR 250 mln; Glovo's acquisition of Delivery Hero (Food Panda) operations in the Balkans for a reported value of EUR 170 mln (a six-country deal assigned by Deloitte to Romania's M&A market entirely); US-based Adventum investment fund acquiring Hermes Business Campus from Belgium's Atenor for an estimated value of EUR 150 mln; Hidroelectrica's takeover of Crucea Wind Farm and Steag Energie wind farms for a reported value of EUR 130 mln.

The most active sectors by the number of transactions were real estate (including construction), technology and financial services. Together, they generated 24 transactions.

As regards the value of transactions, the most active sector was real estate, followed by energy and financial services.

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andrei@romania-insider.com