According to the EY M&A-Index Austria, transactions involving Austrian companies have shown a considerable increase in the first half of 2016 (+38%). Transactions predominately involved strategic buyers with 169 out of 182 transactions. Those players need to adapt their business models with digitalization becoming increasingly relevant and acquisitions being an interesting option to support strategic re-alignment.
Companies of the industrial sector were the most active buyers followed by the real estate/building and technology sectors. Cross-border transactions accounted for approx. 73% of total transactions with inbound transactions accounting for approx. 37% and outbound transactions accounting for approx. 36% of total transactions.
Approx. two thirds of inbound transactions in Austria (which increased by 31,4% in the first half of 2016) were from investors in Europe; Germany being the most active player with 36% of total inbound transactions. Interestingly, Chinese investors had a are very low impact with only 2 transactions.
Outbound transactions showed an increase of 36% with German companies being by far the most attractive targets (42,5% of total outbound transactions).