The past 12 months proved to be very challenging for M&A dealmakers, with tighter financing, stubborn valuation gaps and political instability complicating deal execution. Against this background, the aggregate value of M&A transactions in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) declined precipitously in 2024, even as total deal volume rose marginally year-on-year.

Forvis Mazars report “Investing in CEE: Inbound M&A Report 2024/2025” in partnership with Mergermarket, offers an overview of M&A activity in the CEE region in 2024 and provides forecasts of challenges and opportunities in the coming months.

Key insights in the report include:

· Regional hotspots were held by Poland, Austria, and Romania, the CEE region’s top M&A deal generators in terms of volume in 2024, a pattern that has remained unchanged over the past three years;

· Sector focus was powered by innovative tech and sturdy industrials assets, the top attractions for inbound dealmakers in 2024. The technology sector generated the greatest number of deals, contributing a grand total of 216 transactions (representing 17% of all activity), of which nearly two-thirds (133) were led by bidders from outside the region. After technology, the next biggest contributor to inbound M&A was the industrials sector, with a total of 82 deals by non-CEE acquirers;

· Deal multiples among lowest on recent record. The median EV/EBITDA deal multiple for the CEE region (across all sectors) was 6.7x in 2023/24, according to Mergermarket data. This compares with 9.4x for the rest of Europe, though the gap between those multiples has narrowed over the last three years.

For more information and a report, visit the website: Investing in CEE: Inbound M&A report 2024/2025 – Forvis Mazars – Poland