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Boom & Gloom? CMS European M&A Outlook 2023

We are pleased to share with you the 2023 edition of the European M&A Outlook published by CMS in association with Mergermarket.

Highlights: Boom & Gloom? CMS European M&A Outlook 2023

The report offers a comprehensive assessment of dealmaking sentiment in Europe’s M&A market and reflects the opinions of 330 corporates and PE firms based in Europe, the Americas and APAC about their expectations for the year ahead.

This year, against a challenging backdrop, deal makers are remarkably bullish. Despite economic headwinds, repercussions of the war in Ukraine, vendor/acquiror valuation gaps and a challenging financing environment, most respondents expect European M&A activity to increase over the next year and the majority have deals on the horizon.

Key findings of the report include:

  • M&A expectation are running high: 73% of deal makers expect the level of European M&A activity to increase over the next 12 months, compared to just 53% last year. Almost all are currently considering M&A.
  • Undervalued targets and distressed sales to drive activity: the biggest buy-side driver is expected to be the availability of undervalued deal targets, whilst on the sell-side it is expected to be distressed situations.
  • Cost of financing will increase: 87% of deal makers expect financing to be tighter compared with 2021 – this includes 45% who expect it to be much harder.
  • ESG rises up the M&A agenda: 90% of respondents expect ESG scrutiny in their dealmaking to increase over the next three years, compared to 72% in 2021’s survey.

Report extracts

Selected extracts from the report are available below. To download the full report please use the link provided at the bottom of the page.

Fill in the form below to download the full Outlook

Authors

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Vincent Dirckx
Vincent Dirckx
Partner
Brussels
Stéphane Collin
Stéphane Collin
Partner
Brussels
Virginie Frémat
Virginie Frémat
Partner
Antwerp
Jean-François Goffin
Jean-François Goffin
Partner
Brussels
Cedric Guyot
Cedric Guyot
Partner
Brussels
Carl Leermakers
Carl Leermakers
Partner
Brussels
Arnaud Van Oekel
Arnaud Van Oekel
Partner
Brussels
David Prync
David Prync
Partner
Brussels
Helen Rodwell
Helen Rodwell
Managing Partner
CMS Bratislava and Prague
Prague
Alexander Rakosi
Alexander Rakosi
Partner
Vienna

Key contact

Louise Wallace
Partner
Head of the CMS Corporate/M&A Group
London
T +44 20 7367 2181
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