Mergers&aquisitions market returns in 2024 to the 2019 level 

 The Romanian mergers and acquisitions market recorded 239 announced transactions last year, with an estimated total value of 5.9 billion euros, according to an analysis by PwC Romania, presented at the Annual M&A Conference, according to a press release sent on last Thursday.Compared to 2023, the M&A market recorded a 12% increase, with the most dynamic sectors being real estate, financial services and energy."The Romanian M&A market has been in continuous effervescence since the pandemic. Although last year there was no megadeal (over one billion euros) and not many exits from investment funds, both the volume and value of the M&A market increased, reaching the pre-pandemic level of 2019. In 2025, we expect to have at least one megadeal again that will contribute to a substantial increase in the total value of the Romanian M&A market," said Cornelia Bumbacea, transaction partner at PwC Romania.Of the 239 deals announced last year, 175 deals were actually closed, worth 3.7 billion euros, 3% above the 2023 level. This is due to the fact that many deals are signed in one year and completed the following year or even more than a year later, according to PwC's analysis.The average deal closing time last year was 125 days, with the longest deal closing times having been recorded in the financial services sector (283 days), consumer goods (191 days) and IT&C (197 days), due to regulatory approvals or suspensive conditions included in sales contracts."Even though investors seem more reluctant due to the uncertain macroeconomic and geopolitical context, we estimate that the Romanian transaction market could reach around 7 billion euros in 2025. We base our forecasts on the things that are happening in the market: a megadeal that could be signed this year, other significant transactions announced at the beginning of the year in industry, logistics and retail. Also, the Romanian transaction market is correlated with the evolution of the real gross domestic product and, taking into account the assumptions given by the National Forecast Commission, which estimates a GDP growth of 2.5% this year, we believe that our estimate can be achieved," said George Ureche, transaction partner, PwC Romania.Last year, 85% of the transactions were under 40 million euros, 10% had values between 40 and 100 million euros, and only 5% exceeded the value of 100 million euros.Although they raise the level of the M&A market quite a bit, mega transactions do not have a very large share in the Romanian M&A market, as is the case globally. Between 2020-2023, mega transactions represented only 20% of the total Romanian M&A market, compared to 60% globally.By investor profile, 77% of the transactions were carried out by strategic investors, who also represent 84% of the value of the transaction market in Romania. This is a signal that strategic investors are making more large-value transactions. However, investment funds present in Romania are starting to become increasingly active, have raised new funds and could contribute more to the development of the Romanian M&A market in the coming years.PwC is a network of firms present in 151 countries with more than 360,000 professionals offering services in the fields of audit, tax consulting and business consulting.