| Abstrakt: |
Growth on the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market in Southeast Europe (SEE) continued to accelerate in 2017 and 2018. M&A activity in most SEE countries was influenced by political headwinds, global economic investment sentiment, as well as excessive funding availability. Nevertheless, local specifics rather than common features tended to shape the market in each country. Romania kept its lead as the hands down market leader in the region, supported by sound economic performance and sector maturity. M&A activity in Bulgaria is set to outperform on the basis of robust GDP growth and political stability, whereas in Croatia political volatility and Agrokor's restructuring affected the deal flow. Despite the slow recovery of the Serbian economy, starting from a low, the M&A landscape largely improved in the last twelve months with privatisation playing a key role. Following a multiyear climb on the back of improving economic outlook, Slovenia saw a slow-down in M&A activity as some major manufacturing and financial deals failed to materialise. From sector perspective, SEE sees a surge in interest in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), the technology, media and telecom (TMT), the financial sector and infrastructure. Interest remains dominantly limited to sector national champions or high valueadd niche product companies, but improving consumer confidence already serves to bring purely domestic players into focus. In addition, with around 10.5 billion euro allocated for investments in Central and Southeast Europe (CSEE) by private equity firms, complemented by strong Chinese interest, the region is set to benefit from increasing fund raising. At the same time, having sufficient funding, financial sponsors seem to be facing a shortage of robust targets to invest in. Key deal drivers for the SEE region will remain regional and national consolidation processes, privatisation, and restructurings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
