Increased mergers a sign of market maturity say researchers

In 2002 Polish companies conducted 259 mergers and takeovers - 25% more than the previous year. The leader in the region was Russia with 27 more such transactions. This is what one would venture to call "being in the right place at the right time". Even though on the 2002 global market of mergers and takeovers a deteriorating economic situation was observable, in Eastern and Central Europe the number of transactions rose by 15%, as evidenced by research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a consulting company. Dariusz Mazur, PwC's financial director, emphasizes that the Eastern European, and especially the Polish, market is functioning ever more independently, and that domestic companies are participating in mergers and takeovers more frequently. Mazur said that this is evidence of the maturity of the market. (Puls Biznesu, p. 11) A.C.