PwC Romania: The mergers and acquisitions market in Romania had a slow start to the year, with 15 transactions with a value of 170 million euros. Energy, industrial products and services and real estate generated more than half of the transactions

The mergers and acquisitions market in Romania had a slow start to the year, with 15 transactions with a value of 170 million euros concluded in the first quarter, according to an analysis by PwC Romania. Energy (18.18%), industrial products and services (16.38%) and real estate (14.55%) generated more than 50% of the volume and value of transactions announced in the first quarter of this year.

“The mergers and acquisitions market in Romania had a slow start to the year, with 15 transactions with a value of 170 million euros concluded in the first quarter. But the prospects for short-term recovery exist, another 55 transactions being announced during the mentioned period”, shows the data analyzed by PwC Romania.

The low number of transactions closed at this moment, despite the many transactions announced (but not yet completed), signals the fact that, in the coming quarters, significantly more transactions will be concluded. The 55 announced transactions, 13% less than in the first three months of last year, have a cumulative value of 1.7 billion euros.

The largest transactions announced, but not yet completed, are:

– The acquisition of OTP Bank by Banca Transilvania in a transaction estimated at over 340 million euros, which is currently awaiting the approval of the Competition Council;

– A new transaction of the Bimbo group on the Romanian market, after in 2023 it bought the local leader of the bakery market Vel Pitar. This time, the Mexican group acquired 6 bread factories belonging to Trei Brutari SA through a transaction estimated at 100 million euros.

– Globalworth, the largest owner of office buildings in Romania, sold part of the local logistics portfolio to CTP in a transaction estimated at 70 million euros.

Among the operations completed in the first quarter, the transaction through which PPC Renewables, the local subsidiary of the Greek PPC group, owner of Enel Romania, completed the acquisition of a wind farm with a total installed capacity of 84 MW belonging to Land Power SRL, part of the Lukoil group, stands out.

The consolidation of the market is also visible through a series of small transactions (mostly under 10 million euros), in which entrepreneurial companies are assimilated mainly to large conglomerates or local strategic players, and to a lesser extent by investment funds , which generates, as in the previous year, only 10% of the number and value of transactions made in the local market.

Thus, 13 of the 15 transactions concluded in the first three months of the year had a strategic investor on the buyer’s side, the rest being carried out by investment funds.

From a sectoral perspective, energy (18.18%), industrial products and services (16.38%) and real estate (14.55%) generated more than 50% of the volume and value of transactions announced in the first quarter of this year. Also, the financial sector and that of private health services maintained their traditional presence in the top sector in the mergers and acquisitions market, continuing to generate transactions in the consolidation trend around the big players.

“The sectors that felt a slowdown in terms of the volume of transactions are consumer goods and technology, media and telecommunications, where a lower number of transactions was recorded compared to the same period last year, but from which a quick recovery is expected in the next period”, the analysis also shows.

Comparatively, in the first quarter of 2023, the most transactions were in the industrial products and services sector (17.4%), consumer goods (17.4%) and IT&C (15.8%), followed by energy ( 12.7%) and real estate (11.1%).

Against the background of expectations of a decrease in inflation in the coming quarters, but also in 2025, as well as in the context of the stability of the monetary policy interest, it is anticipated that the level of confidence of investors in the economic recovery will increase, with a direct positive impact on the mergers and acquisitions market. The positive sentiment of investors is also supported by encouraging macroeconomic data, by the excess of liquidity in the financial markets in the region and respectively the ambitions to develop the business environment, including through the digitization and modernization of enterprises, in order to remain relevant in the future.

Last year, the mergers and acquisitions market in Romania recorded 189 completed transactions, with a value of 4.3 billion euros, down about 20% compared to 2022, when it had reached 5.2 billion euros. Last year’s result was largely supported by the transaction through which the Greek group PPC bought Enel Romania, a transaction worth 1.3 billion euros.

If both completed and signed but unfinished transactions are taken into account, 241 deals were registered last year, with a total value of 7.7 billion euros. However, many of the transactions signed last year were announced in the last quarter, to be completed this year, such as the over one billion euro acquisition of the Profi network by Mega Image or Alpha Bank by Unicredit.

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