Large-cap transactions defined CEE dealmaking in 2025: Forvis Mazars Investing in CEE: inbound M&A report 2025/2026

• M&A in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) is surging despite severe geopolitical headwinds, with record intraregional investment and ever-improving economic fundamentals pointing towards continued growth in the year ahead.
• 1,312 transactions were registered in the region in 2025.
• The aggregate value of disclosed M&A activity totalled €42.5bn.
• Romania ranked third in CEE by transaction volume in 2025, with 154 announced transactions.
• Total disclosed deal value in Romania reached approximately €2.3bn.

Forvis Mazars, the international leader in audit and assurance, tax and advisory services, releases its annual CEE M&A report, prepared in association with Mergermarket. The findings reveal that M&A activity in the CEE region did relatively well in 2025 in terms of overall disclosed deal value, though a decline in transaction volume demonstrates the significant geopolitical headwinds and challenging global market conditions it faced. The study, Investing in CEE: Inbound M&A report 2025/2026, offers an overview of M&A activity in the region in 2025 and looks ahead to the challenges and opportunities in the coming months.

Overall, the CEE region saw 1,312 transactions in 2025, with a combined value of €42.5bn. Though the volume represents a 9% year-on-year decline, deal value surged by 36% compared to 2024.

“2025 was a year of steady progress”, mentioned Andrija Garofulić, CEE Financial Advisory Co-Lead and Partner, Forvis Mazars in the Adria subregion. “Despite the region-wide dip in volume, the total value of announced transactions shows how acquirers shifted their focus to premium assets. This pattern was by no means unique to CEE: 2025 was a year in which large-cap deals were the dominant feature of M&A markets all over the world”.

Another key trend was the rise of intraregional M&A. The share of aggregate value generated by inbound deals led by acquirers within CEE soared to its highest level on record in 2025, accounting for 21% of aggregate value.

“We are seeing more and more strategic and financial investors in CEE expanding beyond their national borders”, said Răzvan Butucaru, Partner, Financial Services & Advisory Leader, Forvis Mazars in Romania. “The market is maturing, and regional investors are becoming bolder”.

The pattern of dealmaking in the private equity (PE) arena mirrored that of the wider M&A market in 2025, with volume and value pulling in different directions. In terms of buyouts, the total value of all PE acquisitions announced in CEE in 2025 surpassed that of the previous year, with €7.7bn worth of deals announced. That represents a 19% increase year-on-year, despite volume dropping by 18% over the same period.

Looking ahead, continuing uncertainty around US trade tariffs is likely to have an impact on dealmaking in 2026. The knock-on effects of tariffs are also likely to become increasingly apparent: trade diversion is one of these, with Chinese exports increasingly steered away from the US and towards Europe instead.

Meanwhile, the interest rate environment looks set to remain benign, at least in the eurozone. And GDP growth in CEE continues to power ahead, outpacing Western Europe. All of these factors augur well for M&A in 2026