Romanian M&A market rebounds in Q3

 Activity in the Romanian M&A market rebounded in the third quarter of 2024, despite a drop in the number of transactions in the first half of the year, with 77 deals announced in the July-September period, compared to 53 in the similar period in 2023, according to a PwC analysis.The real estate, consumer goods and renewable energy sectors were the main catalysts for this growth, generating more than 65% of the additional number of deals announced in the third quarter, a release from the consultancy firm said."If the beginning of the year offered uncertain signals regarding this year's dynamics of the M&A market, the third quarter brought a significant rebound that leads us to believe that many of the transactions announced now were in full negotiation in the first part of the year. The Romanian market is proving more and more attractive for strategic investors who wish to consolidate their position and benefit from the evolution of a significant market, in terms of size, in Central and Eastern Europe, whose development is causing important structural changes in the business environment," said George Ureche, M&A Partner, PwC Romania.In terms of value, the Romanian M&A market grew more than 2.7 times compared to the third quarter of last year, excluding the impact of the Hidroelectrica IPO in July 2023. Thus, the 77 announced transactions totaled more than EUR 2 billion, compared to just EUR 750 million in the third quarter of 2023, not counting the EUR 1.9 billion from the Hidroelectrica listing. The two deals announced in August by PPC and Nala Renewables, respectively, with the wind farms acquired from Evryo Power and OX2, contributed more than EUR 900 million to the total market value, and were the two largest deals of the quarter.In the first nine months of the year, the Romanian M&A market recorded a total of 192 announced transactions, with a cumulative value of almost EUR 4.4 billion, up by 6% year-on-year (excluding the Hidroelectrica IPO)."The development of the local M&A market and the high attractiveness of Romanian companies subject to transactions is visible in the third quarter of this year by the increase in the average value of announced transactions to EUR 27 million compared to only EUR 14 million in the same period in 2023. Both the increasing size of the businesses operated by target companies and rising valuations have contributed significantly to this dynamic. If in Q3 2023 only three reported transactions exceeded EUR 40 million, in the third quarter of this year we have 10 such transactions. The energy and real estate sectors remain representative in this sample as well," the release points out.According to the quoted source, small transactions, below EUR 5 million, have become increasingly rare in the Romanian market, with a share of less than 10% in Q3 of 2024, compared to 56% in the same period last year.