A new report from Mergermarket and Wolf Theiss has found that Central Eastern Europe is an extremely attractive destination for M&A dealmakers. According to the survey-based report, 99% of respondents would invest in the region again based on their past experiences.

This follows a moderate decline in M&A activity in 2018, but the outlook for 2019 is optimistic with the region’s skilled labour force and relative low costs driving investor confidence.

In the words of the CFO of an Austrian TMT company, CEE is “an advanced and sophisticated market with spending potential similar to Western European levels [and] as the stability is returning, we see significant potential for us to grow in new markets.” As Dariusz Harbarty, counsel at Wolf Theiss Poland, says of the region: "The forward momentum continues unabated.”

The most popular destination highlighted by the report was Hungary with 91% of investors saying that they would invest high levels of capital in the country again. Austria and the Czech Republic also ranked highly. TMT was the most attractive sector – 33% of respondents expecting to make an M&A deal in the next two years cited TMT as their sector of choice.

Economic growth looks set to remain steady in the coming months, with two-fifths of respondents expecting the fundraising environment to improve in 2019. According to Anna Rizova, partner at Wolf Theiss Bulgaria: “At the moment, fundraising is really booming and that's similar for most Eastern European funds.”

Download the full report here today.