The number of mergers and acquisitions is growing

statistics Yesterday, the auditing company PricewaterhouseCoopers presented its study of mergers and acquisitions of companies in Eastern Europe. At the end of 2001, Russia turned out to be the leader in the number and volume of such transactions.
According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) study, the total volume of mergers and acquisitions of companies concluded in Eastern European countries in 2001 amounted to $16 billion. Of these, 237 transactions worth more than $6 billion were announced in Russia. Poland came in second place, where 207 transactions worth $5.6 billion were concluded.
Moreover, in Russia, the majority of such transactions were concluded by commodity companies, and in Eastern Europe - by companies from the information technology sector, the financial sector and the food industry. According to PWC Director of Corporate Finance Yurat Safarov, most large acquisitions, mergers and acquisitions in Russia are of an aggressive nature, which is typical of the next stage of property redistribution. The majority of the volume of all transactions is accounted for by a few of the largest Russian companies.
The average transaction volume in Russia was $52 million, while in other Eastern European countries it barely reached $12 million. Another feature of our country is the geography of alliances - 80% of them are concluded within the country. Meanwhile, in other countries of Eastern Europe this figure is 50-60%, and in the USA - 40-50%.
Next year, the number of transactions aimed at acquiring new enterprises will only increase. After all, so far the volume of intercorporate transactions in Russia is less than 1% of GDP, and, for example, in the European Union countries this figure is close to 7%. At the same time, there is an obvious increase in the influx of foreign investment into our country. Last year, the growth of foreign direct investment in Russia was 7%, and this year this figure may grow by 40%. And according to analysts, 30-40% of the funds received will be spent on absorbing competitors.

SEVASTIAN Kommersant-KOZITSYN

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 72 dated April 24, 2002, p. 14

Companies' appetites have increased