Emerging Europe M&A Report 2021/2022
Following global trends, the M&A market in emerging Europe surged in 2021— more money was spent on acquisitions and investments than in any of the previous seven years. After a relatively poor showing in 2020, transaction volume also bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. Not only did direct acquisitions and investments fare well, but stock market listings also reached unprecedented levels. Has the M&A market in emerging Europe scaled new heights?
M&A activity in emerging Europe experienced a resurgence in 2021, with buyers and sellers appearing to recover their confidence at the prospect of the pandemic being brought under control. The year got off to a strong start with deal numbers recovering sharply in the first three months of the year, reaching levels similar to 2019 – a trend that then continued through to the autumn.
Horea Popescu
Managing Partner
M&A activity time trend
In 2021, overall deal value was up 55.1% year-on-year to EUR 94.27bn, making it the best year since 2013. The region has now experienced five consecutive quarters with deal values well over EUR 20bn. Deal numbers jumped back to pre-pandemic levels and with 2,015 transactions, they exceeded those of 2019 (1,958).
M&A professionals have shown they are capable of adapting to whatever challenges 2022 might throw at them. Although uncertainty about the impact of new variants and the prospect of economic fallout from higher inflation has led to a more cautious end to the year, our findings show that deal-maker confidence has largely been restored. In 2021, the main drivers of deals were long-term underlying trends, such as digitalisation, and with the pace of change and shift to digital continuing to accelerate, the fundamentals for an active dealmaking market remain firmly in place.
Radivoje Petrikić
Partner
