As foreign players leave, Russian ones take their place and absorb smaller players.

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There are fewer deals involving the sale of foreign businesses to local investors and management. Their number has dropped to 11% - two times year-on-year and four times compared to the peak value in July 2022. Advance Capital experts predict that their number will continue to decline in the future.

"The average level of multiples for transactions involving the exit of foreign companies has been declining consistently since March 2022, as has the establishment of a relevant regulatory system. For example, a number of foreigners closed deals to sell their assets back in the spring of 2022. Therefore, as far as transactions involving assets of foreign companies are concerned, the 2023 multiples reflect a relatively stabilized situation on the Russian market," comments Pavel Terentyev, an analyst at Advance Capital.

The process of mass sales of Russian assets by foreign companies is gradually dying out. The number of transactions related to the exit of foreign companies from the Russian market is gradually decreasing. In 2023, 112 transactions for the sale of Russian assets by foreigners were closed, which amounted to only 18% of the total number of transactions on the Russian market, compared to 25% in the previous year.

One of the key growth malaysia whatsapp resource drivers in the M&A market is the recovery of public company multiples to pre-crisis levels. Average EV/LTM EBITDA multiples have increased to 8.5x (compared to 7.1x in 2022). At the same time, these figures for M&A deals excluding foreign companies have increased from 3.9x to 5.1x over the same period.

The real estate and retail sectors set record transaction volumes. In terms of the total amount of closed transactions in 2023, the real estate sector with $7 billion and retail with $5.5 billion took the first two places. These industries accounted for just over a third of the total volume of the Russian M&A market in 2023. The average transaction amount also increased. In retail, the average amount was $183 million in 2023, compared to $43 million in 2022. In real estate - $140 million and $56 million in 2023 and 2022, respectively.


"Astra", "Softline", "Diasoft", "Pozitiv" - public IT companies, have taken up acquisitions of either teams or companies. "Astra" works most effectively in this direction. Although "Softline" has also announced ambitious plans for acquisitions," said Artem Tuzov.

"Perhaps, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian market has seen a very noticeable trend towards the development and expansion of ecosystems by large companies. As part of the expansion of ecosystems, many M&A transactions are taking place," said Vladimir Chernov. "I think that in the current conditions of very expensive loan financing, it will not be easy for small players without state support in the form of tax breaks or preferential lending, so the trend towards an increase in the number of acquisitions may continue until the end of this year."

Analysts surveyed by ComNews predict further growth in the mergers and acquisitions market in Russia.

Previously, experts from the AK&M agency reported other figures: 536 transactions for $50.59 billion - a record since 2019. "It is difficult to say in terms of the real market volume," commented Leonid Pavlikov. "Without going into details of the market volume assessment, one thing is certain: the figures have grown relative to 2022, both in terms of money and the number of transactions."