​The M&A market in Romania last year registered 189 completed deals worth 4.3 billion euros, which is about 20% less than in 2022, when it reached 5.2 billion euros, according to an analysis by PwC Romania. Last year’s performance was largely boosted by the deal that saw Greek group PPC acquire Enel Romania, a deal worth 1.3 billion euros.

If we take into account both completed and signed but not completed deals, 241 deals with a total value of 7.7 billion euros were registered last year. Many transactions signed last year were announced in the last quarter, but will be completed this year, such as the acquisition of the Profi Mega Image network or Alpha Bank by Unicredit for more than a billion euros.

“The first quarter of 2024 shows signs that this could be a very successful year for the Romanian M&A market. Large deals have already been signed and we expect to close in the first half of this year, and other medium and small deals have also been announced. Mergers and acquisitions remain a strategic tool for the development and growth of companies in the context of pressure from competition, new technologies and climate change. We see that Romanian executives are increasingly considering the option of initiating transactions. According to the results of our CEO 2024 survey, four out of ten (41%) Romanian CEOs are considering a deal in the next three years,” said Dinu Bumbeca, managing partner of PwC in Romania.

Eight very large deals took place on the Romanian market, with those exceeding EUR 100 million falling into this category. However, the last few years have also brought some transactions worth more than one billion euros.

“If the number of deals has decreased, we notice that the average deal value is higher than in the previous year. For the fourth year in a row, Romania is confirmed as a market with transactions worth more than one billion euros: CEZ in 2020, a two-stage transaction involving the acquisition of Neptun Deep by Romgaz in 2021 and 2022, Enel in 2023. Without the Agreement with Enel for over a billion euros, the local market would have reached 3.1 billion euros in 2023. It is worth noting that 70% of the number of deals and 80% of their value are deals with strategic players as buyers. However, we are seeing a growing activity of investment funds and entrepreneurial companies carrying out transactions, especially in the IT sector,” said George Urece, director and head of M&A at PwC Romania.

The average transaction value last year was €23 million, the highest average value recorded since 2020. The IT&C, Consumer Goods, Industrial Goods and Services sectors saw significant growth in average transaction value. The average transaction value of strategic investors was EUR 25 million, while the average transaction value of investment funds was at a lower level.

The segment of deals above €5m remains fast-moving, at around 51% of the total number of closed deals, indicating that there is still room for consolidation and venture capital investment.

Article supported by PwC Romania