Growth seen in mergers and acquisitions
Greek corporate officials are anticipating more mergers and acquisitions within 2016, a trend that became evident at the start of the crisis and has grown significantly in the last couple of years to become one of the main consequences of the prolonged recession, as well as a key solution for many enterprises to avoid closure.
The latest readings of Ernst & Young’s Global Capital Confidence Barometer also show that mergers and acquisitions will speed up, as the recapitalization of banks and recent decisions on major corporations’ nonperforming loans – with those of smaller firms to follow – will make the market picture clearer. All this is making entrepreneurs more optimistic about next year, on the condition that political stability doesn’t become an issue of concern.
The EY barometer showed that 53 percent of respondents expect the Greek economy to improve or remain stable, and 52 percent are anticipating an improvement in corporate profits. Almost one in two corporate officials (45 percent) expects an increase in mergers and acquisitions and 47 percent say they will actively seek acquisitions, up from 43 percent last April. Responses mainly regard targeted acquisitions, complementary to existing activities and relatively small-sized, not exceeding $250 million.
