Transactions in 2009, five times less expensive than in 2008

Thus, the average value of transactions finalized in the first months of 2009 was €6.9 million, compared to some €39 mln in 2008, not including deals in excess of €500 mln.

“If two years ago a major transaction was worth over €500 million, a transaction this year, a transaction will be considered large if it exceeds €100 million,” said Ioana Filipescu, Managing Partner for Raiffeisen Investment. The largest transaction signed in the first five months of this year, EBRD-Renault Technology Romania, was of €44 mln.

“If last year we had a minimum seven offers for every relatively interesting asset put up for sale, now we have excellent assets and no offers,” said Doru Lionachescu, Principal Partner of Capital Partners, a consultancy company for financial brokerage.

Lionachescu added that, if in 2007 a company could have been sold for ten times the profit, today the maximum multiple is 2.5, as high prices registered in previous years were an anomaly which is now being corrected.

The value of the M&A market doubled in the past two months compared to the first three months of this year. According to the Raiffeisen Investment report, this sector amounted to €100 mln in the first quarter of 2009. Last year, the value of the M&A market reached €5.5 billion, slightly down from the €6.4 bln level posted in 2007.