Only 23 deals went public with the value of transactions, meaning 38 percent of total, down 6 percent from the first semester of 2013. Unlike Romania, most CEE countries went through a period of intense M&A activity in the first semester of 2014, with a total of 629 transactions.

In Romania, most of the Romanian companies that were involved in deals had buyers also from Romania – 66 percent of transactions. The EY barometer also shows that the IT industry was the most active in terms of how many deals were signed, while the biggest deals in terms of value were recorded in the energy, FMCG and transport sectors.

Deals signed by strategic investors in the first semester of 2014 represented 49 percent of total, down 10 percent compared to last year. The percentage of financial investors increased to 51 percent, compared to 41 percent in 2013, showing that hedge funds are more interested in investing in Romania.

“The Romanian M&A market was dominated in the first half of 2014 by deals under the EUR 20 million threshold. Even if there were some bigger transactions in Financial services, Energy and Construction, these are to be finalized in 2015″, according to Florin Vasilica, leader of M&A assistance department, EY Romania. (Source: business-review.eu)