The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated government-imposed measures had a negative impact on the M&A market, whose value declined to the lowest point of the past three years. Despite the coronavirus crisis, however, the final prices of transactions were not affected, as investments in the EU still await a relatively large amount of money and strong competition is prevalent among buyers.
Great Britain reported the strongest activity on the European M&A market, with the value of deals rising by 50%. In addition to the ongoing pandemic, it is expected that the M&A market will also be influenced by the arrival of the new American president, who will take a less protectionist stance and open up opportunities for foreign acquisitions in the United States.
Czech Republic
A total of 285 mergers and acquisitions were announced in the Czech Republic in the last quarter of 2020. The most extensive activity was in the real estate sector, with 98 deals announced. The second largest number of transactions (60) can be seen in the retail, consumer goods and entertainment sectors, followed by 57 mergers and acquisitions in the area of industrial products and services.
Significant activities on the Czech market include the negotiations being conducted by the Munich-based company Celonis on the acquisition of the startup Integromat, the Czech leader in the field of online business process automation. The price of the transaction is estimated at CZK 2.5 billion. The American companies Intel and Kemp Technologies are acquiring two Brno-based technology startups, Flowmon Networks and Netcope Technologies, which operated jointly under the name Invea-Tech within the South Moravian Innovation Centre until 2015. Sokolovská uhelná plans to take over the Czech energy company T-Watt. The German construction company Garbe Industrial Real Estate purchased land near Chomutov in close proximity to the D7 motorway, where it plans to build a facility with an area of 32,000 m2. The Kopřivnice-based bicycle manufacturer Bike Fun International will become part of billionaire Tomáš Němec’s portfolio within the company ConsilTech.
Details of selected mergers and acquisition are available in the attached report.
The M&A Report also contains news from the CzechLink capital-participation project, which has been in operation since August 2018. The project supports mergers, acquisitions and joint-venture partnerships between local and foreign investors and domestic parties interested in investments. It also provides an overview of anonymised companies registered in the CzechLink project.
The M&A Report is published in electronic form on a quarterly basis. The next issue will be available in the second quarter of 2021. If you would like to receive the report directly, please contact czechlink@czechinvest.org.