Mergers & acquisitions market worth 5.3bn euros, down 20%

The Romanian mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market amounted to 5.3 billion euros last year, down 17% against 2007, when the value of deals signed was of 6.4 million euros (deals worth over 500 million euros included), reveal data from investment bank Raiffeisen Investment Romania. Whereas in the first six months of the year, the value of transactions conducted on the Romanian market tripled against 2007, the first signs of a decline appeared in the third quarter of 2008, while a steep correction, by 78%, occurred in the last three months of the year, to 328 million euros, from 1.5 billion euros in the similar period of 2007. One has to consider, however, that, apart from two sizeable transactions (the 1.8 billion-euro Rompetrol deal in 2007 and the takeover by Enel of Electrica Muntenia Sud in 2008 – 820 million euros), the decline of the market amounted to just 5% in 2008 against the previous year.