The war halted takeovers in the East
22:09
Last year ended with a record on the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market, both in Poland and in the world. Almost 900 transactions with a total value of EUR 67.5 billion took place throughout Central and Eastern Europe (CEE, including Russia), according to the report "Investing in CEE: Inbound M&A report 2021/2022" prepared by Mazars and Mergermarket. Even before the escalation of the war in Ukraine, experts indicated that this was one of the factors that could negatively affect the transaction market this year.
The effects for Poland may also be positive. The Polish Development Fund (PFR) is already receiving numerous signals from domestic and international companies that want to transfer factories and service centers to us from the East.
But Rafał Kozłowski from Alto Legal also expects temporary freezing of the M&A market in Poland. He explains that the implementation of such projects is a much greater challenge in a situation where, inter alia, the exchange rate risk for the zloty is increasing and the prices of raw materials are rising.
"Even for Polish sellers who are not the most affected by these circumstances, I assume greater restraint from global buyers due to the proximity of the war. The cost of external financing of the transaction will also increase for local buyers," Rafał Kozłowski said.
