The Romanian mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market amountedto 987 million euros in the July-November 2009 period, almostdouble against the level recorded in the first half of the year, ofjust 453 million euros.
"I am one of those who do not perceive these transactions assigns of a rebound, I put each particular one in context. Moreover,I think 2010 may generate the awaited opportunities as far asdistressed assets are concerned (assets of troubled companies),which did not materialise in 2009, and very little activity in thetraditional M&A sector," said Ioana Filipescu, managingdirector of Raiffeisen Investment Romania.
A first such example emerged in mid-December, whenPricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), liquidator of EFG CrevediaDevelopment, sold a 124-hectare plot located close to Bucharest for11.17 million euros in an auction. The transaction was sealed atless than 9 euros/square metre, i.e. a discount of over 75% on thevaluation made a year ago by the group of British investors thatbought the plot.
The market was revived towards the end of the year by the around200 million-euro transactions sealed by investment funds thatentered sectors such as food retail, private medical services, realestate and the Internet.
The most recent transactions include the takeover by EnterpriseInvestors of discount retailer Profi, for which it paid 66 millioneuros and the sale by the Marcu family of a minority stake inMedLife in a 20 million-euro deal. This autumn also saw the firsttransaction with office buildings in 2009 after the real estatedivision of German group Deutsche Bank signed the contract to takeover the biggest office building in Bucharest, located in Pipera(northern Bucharest), which is called BOC. The deal was sealed for100 million euros.
Even considering the boost received lately, the overall M&Amarket amounted to 1.4 billion euros in the first 11 months of theyear, down 75% against 2008.
Ioana Filipescu does not believe in a rebound of the market andsays deals should be analysed on a case-by-case basis, which wouldreveal that most deals have been sealed under "exceptionalcircumstances."
"In 2009, unlike in other years, there was no mega-deal (of over500 million euros), but the overall value of the market wasconcentrated in a relatively low number of deals: the top two dealsin terms of value - the only ones worth over 100 million euros (CVCPartners - Inbev, and CEZ - CEZ Distributie, CEZ Vanzare) accountedfor over a third of the market," Filipescu added.
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