Romania’s merger and acquisitions (M&A) market saw the highest growth of all 11 countries in the Central and Southeastern European region (CSE) in the first half of this year, as the value of closed transactions reached USD 2.1 billion, 2.5 times more than in the same period of 2014, according to EY’s M&A Barometer.

Romania also had the biggest transaction in the CSE region in the first six months of this year, as Romanian billionaire Ion Tiriac sold his minority stake in local lender UniCredit Tiriac Bank to Italian group UniCredit for USD 771 million, according to EY.

The number of deals in Romania also went up from 68, in the first six months of 2014, to 81. Energy and mining have been the busiest sectors for mergers and acquisitions in Romania,

Some 80% of the transactions involved strategic investors and in 62% of the cases foreign companies took over local businesses. Only 8% of the transactions involved local investors who took over foreign companies, one of the lowest rates in the region, while the remaining 30% were all internal deals.

Investors based in the US and the Netherlands were the busiest in the first half of this year, with 6 takeovers in Romania each. Investors from the UK made 4 acquisitions in Romania while Italian and Czech investors had 3 deals each.

„Romania has confirmed its status as one of the very attractive markets in the region both through its macroeconomic performances and geostrategic position,” said Florin vasilica, EY’s M&A Assistence Department Leader. He expects more deals in the energy, financial and healtcare sectors.

The M&A market in the CSE region increased overall by 2.9%, in terms of number of transactions, to 647 deals. The estimated value was USD 16.5 billion. Turkey, Poland and the Czech Republic were the top three markets in terms of number of deals, Romania comng fourth. In terms of value, Romania went up to third place, surpassing Poland.

EY: Mergers and acquisitions in Romania up threefold in 2014 to the highest level in five years

UniCredit buys out billionaire Ion Tiriac’s stake in Romanian subsidiary

editor@romania-insider.com