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bne February 2022 Central Europe I 69
energy and utility deals to 122 (from 73). The renewables sub-sector saw particularly impressive growth in both deal activity and value, numbering 81 deals (up from 44) and a fourfold increase in value.
In terms of countries, Russia saw M&A activity bounce back, with transactions up by 15.8% to 609 and deal values
up by 51.2% to €45.38bn. Values
were the highest since 2013, lifted by megadeals such as the €6bn merger of petrochemical groups Taif and Sibur.
slipped 9.6% to €2.37bn, with the largest deal Romgaz’s €916m acquisition of the Neptun Deep Block.
In Croatia records were broken as deals hit 69, up 60.5%, and value rocketed by 387% to €1.86bn.
The United States was the most active foreign country investor. US deal numbers rose to a decade high of 154 (up from 94) and values more than doubled to reach a record high of €9.17bn.
Cross-border M&A remained buoyant, with deal numbers up 28.9% (985 deals) and values up 59.8% (€56bn). This was well ahead of domestic deal values of €38.3bn (up 48.1%), with deal numbers still slightly higher at 1,030 (up 9.5%).
Russia was the largest single investor country overall, with 564 deals worth €37.3bn – almost all (96%) of these being domestic transactions.
Emerging Europe private equity activity rose further with deal numbers at an all- time high (399) – representing one fifth of overall deal volume – and values up 18% to €23.75bn.
Among the venture capital deals, there were a record 308 deals, up a record 74%, with value more than doubling
to €7.7bn. Russia was the leading destination by volume with 74 deals, while Turkey was the top VC investment destination in terms of total value invested at €2.5bn, followed by the Czech Republic at €1.5bn.
The Telecoms & IT sector was unsurprisingly the most active by VC deal count with 186 deals, or 60% of all activity. It also led in terms of value, with deals worth €2.7bn, ahead of Wholesale & Retail, which had deals worth €2.66bn.
“In terms of countries, Russia saw M&A activity bounce back, with transactions up by 15.8% to 609 and deal values up by 51.2% to €45.38bn"
Deal numbers recovered strongly in Ukraine, up 57.1% to 143, and deal values more than doubled to €1.72bn, as four deals came in above €100m.
In Poland deal volumes were down
4.3% at 270, but deal values, up 2.3%
at €11.93bn, were at the highest level in the past decade. The biggest deal was the €2.5bn acquisition of insurer Aviva Poland by Allianz of Germany. Real estate was the busiest sector by volume, accounting for a quarter of deals, while Telecoms and IT was the largest by value, including the €1.56bn purchase of Polkomtel Infrastruktura by Cellnex of Spain and the €1.52bn purchase of UPC Polska by Iliad of France.
In Czechia, despite deal volumes easing back 7.6% to 110, the value of deals reached an all-time high of €13.37bn thanks to the €7.3bn purchase of Avast Software by Norton Lifelock of the US.
In Turkey volumes increased by 27.2% to 234 deals, in line with pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) levels, while values dipped by 12.3% to €6.89bn, still above 2019 levels. The largest deal was the €1.28bn fundraising by e-commerce platform Trendyol.com from an international consortium including Softbank.
Deal flow in Romania hit a new record at 195, an increase of 43.4%, while value
By deal activity, the top three European investors were the UK (106 deals), Germany (81 deals) and France (54 deals). By deal value the top three were Germany (€3.13bn), with the UK (€2.08bn) and France (€1.91bn) following in second and third place respectively.
The UAE moved up the foreign investor ranking to secure tenth position for its deal numbers, the highest outside the US and Europe.
2021 dealmaking in emerging Europe at a glance
Deals by value and volume
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