Green shoots of recovery appear in CEE banking M&A

Bad debts, low valuations and a lack of appetite for expansion among strategic players have kept a lid on banking sector M&A in emerging Europe since the financial crisis. Now the recovery of key regional banks and the emergence of new investors is driving a resurgence in activity. But will it last?

green shoot-portrait

For most of the eight years since the financial crisis, the story of banking sector M&A in emerging Europe was relatively simple. Intense appetite for assets in Poland, the region’s largest economy and the only one to avoid recession after 2008, was matched by an almost total lack of interest in markets further south as bad debts ballooned and valuations slumped.

Recently, however, the sector has started to show signs of life beyond Poland. Some of the worst-affected countries – including Romania, Slovenia and Croatia – have seen successful transactions over the past year.

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