76 M&A transactions were carried out in Poland in Q1 2021, which amounts to 21 more than the year before, according to the “M&A Index Poland” report prepared by Navigator Capital and Fordata. In terms of industries, the sectors of Media / IT / Telecom (16%), biotechnology and healthcare (13%) and services (12%) dominated. The largest group of sellers in the first quarter of 2021 were private investors, who were responsible for nearly 59% of all transactions.
The largest transaction in the first quarter of 2021 was the acquisition of Aviva Polska, one of the leaders of the Polish life and property insurance market, by the leading German service provider Allianz for the amount of approx. PLN 11.7 billion. The subject of the transaction are Aviva’s assets in Poland and a majority stake in a joint the venture of Aviva and Santander bank offering life and non-life bancassurance products. Aviva can focus on its strategic markets, such as the UK, Ireland and Canada, where it identifies high growth potential, after the acquisition of Allianz, it will become the second largest in terms of operating profit, the insurer in the region of Central and Eastern Europe At the moment, the Allianz Group, as one of the world’s largest players in the insurance and asset management industry, serves over 100 million customers in over 70 countries, and the acquisition will increase its presence and customer base in Poland.
In the first quarter of 2021, a record high number of transactions was recorded compared to the corresponding periods of previous years. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the interest of enterprises in the M&A market due to securing the supply chain or investment opportunities related to the so-called distressed assets.
“Our observations of the movement in the data room show that transactions are not suspended as they did a year ago, when the pandemic started. There have already been many evaluations in terms of financial and market value of companies, and looking at how many projects are going on each month. , the stopwatch, which was uncertainty in the first half of 2020, is no longer visible. It is a good prognosis for the next quarters. Qualitatively, the most willingly acquired entities are dominated by goals that will help investors develop a long-term strategy and support the distribution network and sales “- said head of sales EMEA in Fordata Alicja Kukla-Kowalska.
The development of modern branches of the economy, such as IT, e-commerce or biotech, and the greater importance of renewable energy sources make the structure of transactions on the Polish M&A market stable. Investors were most interested in entities from the Media / IT / Telecom category, which accounted for 16% of the acquired enterprises. Among the sellers, the greatest activity was shown by private investors, responsible for nearly 59% of transactions.
“The sector structure of acquisition targets observed in the first quarter of 2021 is not a surprise. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly influenced the M&A market, causing increased interest in entities from modern industries such as e-commerce or biotech. and the dissemination of digital solutions, the share of TMT entities in the M&A market will gradually grow. In the last quarter there were significant transactions on this market, including the acquisition of Polkomtel Infrastruktura by Cellnex, the value of which amounted to over PLN 7 billion “- added the director in Navigator Capital Group Karol Szykowny.
The largest group of sellers in the first quarter of 2021 were private investors, who were responsible for nearly 59% of all transactions. On the buying side, entities from the biotechnology and healthcare sector were the most active – 14%, PE funds – 11% and entities from the Media / IT / Telecom sector – 9%.
Source: ISBnews
