Romanian M&A market evolution during the first quarter of 2024

During the first three months of 2024, the Romanian mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market recorded 63 transactions1, a modest uptick from the 61 deals recorded in Q1 2023, indicating an acceleration of activity from the previous two quarters.

The estimated value of local M&A activity totaled USD 1.1bn2 in Q1 2024, down from USD 2.5bn in Q1 2023. However, the estimated value of local M&A activity only decreased by 7% on a yearly basis when accounting for Q1 2023’s mega-deal, namely the acquisition of Italy-based Enel Group's operations in Romania by Public Power Corporation for USD 1.3bn.

The largest deal of the first quarter was the acquisition of Hungary-based OTP Bank’s operations in Romania by Banca Transilvania, the country's largest bank, for a consideration of USD 375m. Another significant deal during this timeframe saw CTP, Europe's largest publicly listed developer of industrial and logistics properties, purchasing 5 light-industrial parks from Globalworth Real Estate Investments’ wholly-owned logistics portfolio, for approximately USD 184m.

Furthermore, Romania’s largest power producer Hidroelectrica completed the acquisition of UCM Resita’s selected business lines in Q1 2024, having signed the transaction in Q4 2023. EY’s multidisciplinary teams provided M&A advice, financial and tax support as well as valuation and business modelling services to the buyer.

Strategic investors remained the dominant players, accounting for 92% of transactions in this timeframe. Inbound transactions surged by 21% in Q1 2024 when compared to the same period last year, counting 29 transactions, while domestic players reduced their activity by 15% to 28 transactions (compared to 33 in Q1 2023). Regarding the country of origin for investment, the United States emerged as the most active investor with 6 deals, followed by Austria with 4, and both Germany and the Netherlands, each recording 3 transactions.

The Consumer Products & Retail sector led in activity volume in the first quarter with 14 deals, followed closely by Real Estate, Hospitality & Construction with 13 deals, and Health with 8 deals. Technology and Power & Utilities sectors followed with 5 transactions each.

Note: (1) EY’s M&A database for Romania excludes transactions with stakes acquired of less than 15% (2) includes an estimate of the value of transactions where no data was formerly disclosed by the parties or is not available in third party databases and/or reported by media sources, and (3) multi-country transactions which include companies or operations in Romania are included in the number of transactions but excluded from the value of M&A where the allocation of transaction value is not available.