AmCham Slovakia

We are pleased to share with you the 2024 edition of the European MA Outlook published by CMS in association with Mergermarket.

The report offers a comprehensive assessment of dealmaking sentiment in Europe’s M&A market and reflects the opinions of 330 corporates and PE firms based in Europe, the Americas and APAC about their expectations for the year ahead.

M&A activity in Europe this year has been entangled in higher inflation, rising interest rates and an uncertain economic outlook. Against this backdrop, projections for M&A over the coming 12 months are undoubtedly mixed. Yet the vast majority of respondents to our survey anticipate engaging in M&A over the coming period, suggesting a healthy volume of activity in the near term. And, as valuations appear to have stabilised over the course of 2023, the stage looks set for a meeting of minds between buyers and sellers over the medium term – at which point M&A may well start truly turning a corner.

Key findings of the report include:

• M&A expectation are running high: 73% of deal makers expect the level of European M&A activity to increase over the next 12 months, compared to just 53% last year. Almost all are currently considering M&A.
• Undervalued targets and distressed sales to drive activity: the biggest buy-side driver is expected to be the availability of undervalued deal targets, whilst on the sell-side it is expected to be distressed situations.
• Cost of financing will increase: 87% of deal makers expect financing to be tighter compared with 2021 – this includes 45% who expect it to be much harder.
• ESG rises up the M&A agenda: 90% of respondents expect ESG scrutiny in their dealmaking to increase over the next three years, compared to 72% in 2021’s survey.

 
To access the full report, click here:
https://cms.law/en/int/publication/turning-the-corner-cms-european-m-a-outlook-2024

For more information, please contact:
Oliver Werner, Managing Partner, Corporate M&A, Compliance, CMS Bratislava
E:  oliver.werner@cms-rrh.com, M: +421 2 3214 1416

Juraj Fuska, Partner, M&A, Corporate, CMS Bratislava
E:  juraj.fuska@cms-cmno.com, M: +421 905 313 756