With mergers and acquisitions totalling 5.8 billion dollars (4.6 billion euros) last year, Romania is currently second in the regional market, in a ranking calculated by the total number and the total estimated value of transactions.
Last year, 117 transactions were made public in the private sector, almost three times as much as in 2004, which witnessed 42 mergers and acquisitions, according to a study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
In terms of value, the mergers and acquisitions market witnessed a significant growth in 2005, being estimated at 5.8 billion dollars, against the 1.4 billion-dollar mark witnessed in 2004. Romania therefore improved its position in the top-ten ranking, climbing two places up to fourth position, behind Russia, the Czech Republic and Poland.
In addition to an increase in the number of acquisitions, there was also a rise in the average value of a transaction, which reached 65 million dollars, far higher than the 41 million-dollar mark attained in 2004.
Foreign investments accounted for 72% of the total number of transactions, high above the 40% European average, which indicates the preference of Romanian companies for foreign strategic partners.
“Transactions initiated by foreign investors dominated the Romanian market, accounting for 72% of the total mergers and acquisitions in 2005. The US and EU countries showed interest in investing, in particular Austria and Greece in terms of number of transactions and the United Kingdom and France in terms of the total amount invested. The activity of local investors outside of Romania was however not significant,” stated Emilian Radu, a Partner of Consultancy Services for Transactions at PriceWaterhouseCoopers Romania. The consultancy company specifies that the data in the study was collated and sourced from countless public sources that it has not checked.