While the number of mergers and acquisitions in 2023 in Croatia remained almost unchanged compared to the previous year, the total value significantly decreased – from €3.16 billion in 2022 to €1.9 billion last year, according to the Emerging Europe M&A Report. The report does highlight, however, that the mentioned value of €1.9 billion is the second-largest acquisition value in the past decade.
The largest acquisition in 2023 was the acquisition of a stake in Fortenova by Pavle Vujnovac. This was followed by the acquisition of Photomath worth €360 million and the acquisition of telecommunications towers of United Group by stc group (the total value is €1.22 billion, and according to estimates, the part of the acquisition in Croatia is worth €202 million). In fourth place is Eagle Hills’ acquisition of Sunčani Hvar (estimated to be worth €200 million), while the fifth largest transaction is the acquisition of Turisthotel (€121.5 million) by Tankerska plovidba.
The three most active sectors regarding acquisitions and mergers in Croatia were the food industry, telecommunications, and IT, as well as real estate.
As in Croatia, there was also a decline in the number and value of transactions at the level of the entire CEE region. The total value of transactions amounted to €32.48 billion, which is a 1.4 percent decrease compared to 2022, and the number of transactions decreased from 1,229 to 1,887. However, the CEE region recorded an unusually high number of transactions exceeding €1 billion last year – seven compared to only three transactions that reached that threshold in 2022.
As a result of rising interest rates, there has been a decrease in the activity of private equity funds – a drop in transactions of 14.2 percent. However, the total value increased by as much as 57 percent to €15.5 billion due to large ‘exits’ of PE funds.
Higher interest rates have also brought changes in traditional M&A financing, notes Jelena Nushol Fijačko, partner at CMS Croatia. – It seems that in 2023 there has been an increased use of alternative financing instead of traditional bank loans. Traditional bank loans may also have become stricter and less accessible – she said.
