Bìznes Inform (Jun 2021)
Features of the Ukrainian M&A Market
Abstract
The article is aimed at researching the current state and peculiarities of the Ukrainian M&A market. The market of mergers and acquisitions in Ukraine began to form in the 90s of 20th century, that is, the market is relatively young, but already has its own history, which consists of a consistent four stages: privatization; post-privatization; corporate and speculative. The domestic M&A market is characterized by the formation of a tendency to increase the value of agreements. During the research period (2013–2020), the most expensive M&A agreements in Ukraine were most often concluded in such sectors of the economy as communication and media, financial sector, agriculture. The level of transparency remains low, that is, in Ukraine more than 40% of agreements were concluded without disclosing the cost. Ukrainian investors practically do not participate in the purchase of foreign assets within the framework of mergers and acquisitions agreements. Until 2013, the main investor in the Ukrainian M&A market was Europe, now it is the CIS countries, and the participation of American companies is also growing. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on all countries of the world. Ukraine’s GDP decreased by 4.4%, which was the largest drop since 2013–2014. Also in Ukraine significantly decreased the number of agreements on the M&A market (decreased by 15%, and the total value of agreements decreased by 62%). A negative characteristic feature of the domestic M&A market is the presence of raider seizures, which hinders the development of this market. Using the data of the Unified State Register of Court Decisions, we determined that from 500 to 700 raider attacks are recorded annually in Ukraine. Thus, during the research period (2013–2020), 3,242 raider seizures were recorded in Ukraine. In this regard, the government of the country has developed measures to overcome this phenomenon. Thus, in 2020, the Law of Ukraine «On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Countering Raiding» came into force, which will contribute to the improvement of the investment attractiveness of the country, will ensure the growth of the domestic market of mergers and acquisitions.
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