The M&A market cools off after a record 2021

M&A activity in the Baltic states throughout 2022

After a record level of M&A deal-making in 2021, the market has cooled off slightly in 2022. Both sellers and buyers faced the same adversity and uncertainty in their deals as did all of Europe in their business and daily lives.

Yet it is fair to say that 2022 was a good year for the M&A market, with 198 total announced transactions at a combined disclosed value of over 2.4 billion euros, M&A activity in 2022 exceeded 2019 and 2020 deal-making levels, even if it fell short of the highs of 2021.

Read the full 2022 Baltic M&A Overview here. Download PDF

This year outbound M&A activity (a Baltic company acquiring a target outside of the Baltics) was unusually popular. While domestic and inbound deals continue to drive market activity, outbound transaction count grew by 37% when compared to 2021, while all other M&A activity in the Baltics fell. In particular, domestic activity decreased even more than inbound transactions.

As is tradition, the most active sector in the Baltics was IT (49 transactions), and it was followed by the services sector (39 transactions), where deal-making reached the same level as in 2021. The industrials sector experience a sharp drop to 19 transactions in 2022, likely driven by high volatility in energy costs. The energy sector itself remained highly active, with 16 announced deals.

Estonia’s M&A activity continues to be led by software and internet and e-commerce industries, together delivering 30 of the country’s 79 deals in 2022. As in previous years Estonia had the largest transaction value, driven by its start-up ecosystem raising funds even in the challenging 2022

M&A activity in Latvia continues to lag Baltic peers with only 30 deals in 2022, and Latvia also experienced the sharpest relative drop in activity among the Baltic states

M&A activity in Lithuania experienced the smallest decrease in 2022, also having a strong year in the IT sector, with 27 of the country’s 89 transactions. Compared to the other Baltic states, Lithuania had higher activity in the Healthcare sector, driven almost entirely by domestic players' continued sector consolidation.

Oaklins is proud to have been the most active Baltic M&A advisor by deal count for the third year in a row with a total of 12 closed deals, equally divided among sell-side and buy-side engagements. Among these transactions were such deals as the sale of Saint-Gobain's Baltiklaas to Barrus, the sale of INVL's Inservis to Civinity, acqusition of Maksekeskus on behalf of Blackstone-owned Luminor, acquisition of Telia Latvia on behalf of Tet, and the sale of Clinic DPC to Innova.