Some markets see increase in deal value and volume, but CEE M&A activity down overall
Private equity fund investment up 16%
Investment by US based companies and funds increases by 61%
Fragmented investment landscape
Investors no longer regard Central and Eastern Europe as
a coherent investment area as countries in the region present increasingly
different risk profiles. While the CEE M&A market overall was down on
2014, a number of markets saw
increases in 2015 in both deal value and volume, as reported in Emerging Europe M&A Report 2015/2016,
published by CMS in cooperation with EMIS.
Helen Rodwell, Partner, CMS Prague : “Political
changes can be seen to have a direct, and often immediate, impact on the levels
of new investment and the sustainability of investments. The net result for the
region may be neutral, however, as investment is simply diverted to other CEE
countries, rather than withdrawn”.
Stefan Stoyanov, Global head of M&A database, EMIS: “Looking ahead to 2016, we expect a
year of respite for emerging Europe M&A. Political risks remain, but
many external shocks have been curbed or at least taken into account. On the
private equity front, ripe portfolios and a flight to higher returns are likely
to spur more deals in the region.”
While the
2015 global M&A market saw more deals with more value than any year since
2007, CEE was relatively flat with
a 3% decline in announced deals (2,138 transactions), but a sharper 15% decline
in total value (from EUR 63bn to EUR 53bn). Poland, Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina saw an increase in
deals – both value and volume – from 2014.
Increased
private equity interest
A total of 288
deals were announced (a 16% increase), more than half of which constituted new
PE entries. The largest transactions predominantly attracted US and UK
investors.
Radivoje
Petrikić, Partner, CMS Vienna: “Private
equity funds are traditionally characterised by a greater risk appetite than
corporate players. It should be expected that funds will to a large extent
shape the situation on the M&A market in the region in the coming
months”.
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US investors increasingly active
In 2015
US based investors increased their M&A activity in the region by 61% in
value and 9% in volume with 127 deals valued at almost EUR 4bn.
Helen Rodwell, Partner, CMS Prague:
“The most
active foreign investors in CEE in 2015 were from the US. This is not
surprising, given the strength of the dollar against the Euro, and is a
consistent trend across the European M&A market. A new wave of
investment from China and a developing interest from South Korea was also
apparent.”
CEE
also saw more interest from German (a 22% increase in volume to 88
transactions) and UK investors (a 23% increase in value of transactions
closed by UK–based buyers to EUR 2.5bn).
The most
active sectors in M&A
Manufacturing was the most targeted sector with 343
deals for a total of EUR 8.9bn (14% increase), followed by Telecoms &
IT and Real Estate with 298 and 263 deals for EUR 5.7bn and EUR 8.3bn,
respectively.
Information on the report:
The fifth edition of
“Emerging Europe M&A Report 2015/2016” published by CMS in cooperation with
EMIS presents the M&A trends for 2016 and an analysis of M&A deals valued over US$ 1mln
announced in 2015 across 22 jurisdictions in Central and Eastern Europe,
focusing on 15 of them in detail (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria,
Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia,
Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine, while data on Emerging Europe
include also Belarus, Estonia, Kosovo,
Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, and Moldova). The report will be
available from 19th January at www.cmslegal.com
Information about CMS:
Founded in 1999, CMS is a full-service top 10
international law firm, the largest in Europe, based on the number of lawyers
(Am Law 2013 Global 100). With 59 offices in 33 countries across the world,
employing over 3,000 lawyers, CMS has longstanding expertise both at advising
in its local jurisdictions and across borders. CMS acts for a large number of
Fortune 500 companies and the FT European 500 and for the majority of the DAX
30.
CMS provides a wide range of expertise across 18
expert practice and sector areas including Banking and Finance, Commercial,
Competition, Corporate, Dispute Resolution, Employment, Energy, Intellectual
Property, Lifesciences, Real Estate, TMT and Tax. For more information, please
visit www.cmslegal.com.
CMS offices and associated offices: Aberdeen,
Algiers, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona, Beijing, Belgrade, Berlin, Bratislava,
Bristol, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Casablanca, Cologne, Dubai, Dusseldorf,
Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Geneva, Glasgow, Hamburg, Istanbul, Kyiv, Leipzig,
Lisbon, Ljubljana, London, Luxembourg, Lyon, Madrid, Mexico City, Milan, Moscow,
Munich, Muscat, Paris, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Sarajevo, Seville,
Shanghai, Sofia, Strasbourg, Stuttgart, Tirana, Utrecht, Vienna, Warsaw, Zagreb
and Zurich.
Information about EMIS:
EMIS operates in and reports on countries where high
reward goes hand-in-hand with high risk. We bring you time-sensitive,
hard-to-get, relevant news, research and analytical data, peer comparisons and
more for over 120 emerging markets. Our information platform provides a unique
blend of analysis, data and news on companies, industries and countries. We
license content from the cream of the world’s macroeconomic experts, the most
renowned industry research firms and the most authoritative news providers. We
combine this with our own company and M&A research to offer a multi-faceted
view of each emerging market. Formed over 20 years ago, we employ nearly 300
people in 13 countries around the world, providing intelligence to nearly
2,000 clients. We are part of Euromoney Institutional Investor plc. For more
information, please visit www.emis.com
