Romanian mergers and acquisitions (M&A) recorded 198 transactions during the first nine months (9M) of 2024, marking an 8.2% increase compared to the same period last year (183 deals), EY reports.
The estimated value of Romanian M&A activity rose by 22.3% year-on-year (YoY), reaching USD 5.2bn vs USD 4.2bn in 9M 2023, and was primarily driven by robust activity in the Power & Utilities sector.
The largest deal observed during 9M 2024 was the acquisition of a 629 MW renewable energy portfolio from Evryo Group (previously CEZ Romania), by Public Power Corporation (PPC), for a consideration of USD 768m.
This transaction followed PPC’s multi-country acquisition earlier this year of 90 solar projects in Romania (516 MW), Italy (503 MW), Bulgaria (500 MW), and Croatia (445 MW) from Mytilineos for over USD 2.1bn.
The second-largest deal in Q3 2024 (ranking third in 9M 2024) involved the sale of a 99 MW onshore wind project by Sweden-based OX2 for approximately USD 234m to Nala Renewables.
Another notable transaction in Q3 involved the outbound acquisition of Nowo Communications, Portugal’s fourth-largest telecommunications operator, by Digi Communications from Cabonitel, for USD 163m.
As for investor dynamics, strategic players remained the dominant deal-makers for Romanian M&A, accounting for 92% of deal volume during 9M 2024 and marking their largest share of the market for this the first nine-months since 2018.
From a cross-border perspective, inbound transactions rose by 39.2% during 9M 2024 when compared to the same period in 2023, totaling 103 transactions, while domestic players decreased their activity on the local market by 13.8%, recording 81 transactions.
