In a difficult year for M&A in central and eastern Europe, UniCredit once again leveraged its regional network, sectoral approach and careful market positioning to notch the largest number of announced deals in the 12 months to the end of March.
More than half of the Italian group’s total M&A platform is dedicated to CEE, with 15 bankers in Vienna – organized on a sector basis – and another 35 across the 10 countries where it has commercial banking operations.
This unique setup means that UniCredit is ideally positioned to capture the mid-market in M&A, a very active segment in CEE, but one that is relatively underserved by international investment banks.
“At the top end of the market the bulge bracket banks come in – our strategy here is to work on co-advisory roles where UniCredit provides the CEE component,” says Hedde Draper, head of corporate finance advisory CEE at UniCredit.
“We try to avoid the bottom end of the market where the Big Four and local boutiques are present.