M&A market showing signs of a rebound

Ten deals totally worth above 140m euros have been inked in the past two months, three of which in a single day, and consultants are already speaking of a M&A market rebound.

“There is a lot of money on developed markets looking to nest. There is a World Bank report showing 2bn dollars are each day seeking a placement from the West to emerging markets. There is no shortage of money, the sums are huge,” said Doru Lionăchescu, managing partner with Capital Partners consultancy.

The largest recent deal was the takeover of Expur Urziceni vegetable oil producer by France’s Sofiproteol company in a deal ZF puts at 60-80m euros. another three deals likely to mark the start of a new wave of acquisitions domestically were announced yesterday. South-African media giant Naspers bought an 83% stake in GECAD ePayment International, a provider of card online payment services owned by businessman Radu Georgescu, and on the same day Cora announced it paid 9m euros for the plot of land of the former apparel plant Asco of Bacău.

In the “good” years, the M&A market topped 5bn euros. For 2010, forecasts point to 1bn euros.