Czech it out: Central Eastern European M&A activity is booming
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity slowed in the UK and across the world last year, but Central Eastern European deals came thick and fast.
There Warsaw (were so) many M&A deals in the region that values totalled €86.7bn (£74bn) last year, up 62 per cent on 2015, and its highest result since 2013.
The total number of deals was down seven per cent to 1,985.
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The Emerging Europe M&A report, published by law firm CMS and EMIS, noted that Russia and Poland retained the top spots despite falls in activity. The “rising stars” of the region were named as the Czech Republic and Romania.
The US remained the biggest investor in the area, with the UK and China forcing their way into second and third place, spending €5.2bn and €4.4bn respectively.
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“Dealmakers acted cautiously as global economic growth remained weak, amid uncertainty about election and referendum results,” said Helen Rodwell of CMS.
“Confidence picked up towards the end of 2016, setting the scene for robust M&A activity in 2017. There are many reasons to be positive about this year, including the potential pipeline of deals that already await completion.”
Hopefully the M&A flurry calms down soon. Otherwise those poor investment bankers will never get a chance to Bucharest (book a rest).