A total of 260 M&A deals were registered in Southeast Europe (SEE) by the DealWatch database in the third quarter of 2008, compared to 212 deals seen for the year-ago period.

That means the number of deals grew by 22.6% year on year. The total reported deal value rose by 35.2% year on year to USD 15.4 bln.

There were 721 transactions in SEE Jan-Sep 2008, against 834 in full-2007. The total deal value amounted to nearly 40.5 bln dollars in this period compared with USD 48.8 bln in the entire 2007.

Most popular transaction types were: acquisition (151 deals of total value USD 4.5 bln), minority stake purchase (68, USD 3.3bn), privatization (35, USD 7.5 bln) and restructuring within one holding (6, USD 75.2 mln).

Top industries in terms of deal volume were manufacturing (73 deals), real estate (44), information and IT (23) as well as finance and insurance (23). The top three industries in terms of deal value were arts, entertainment and recreation (USD 3bn), utilities (USD 3bn) and manufacturing (USD 2.4bn).

The top five countries in the region in terms of deal volume were: Turkey (80 deals in the third quarter of 2008), Romania (67), Bulgaria (38), Serbia (30) and Slovenia (20).

The top five countries in terms of deal value were: Turkey (USD 10.2 bln), Bulgaria (USD 1.6 bln), Croatia (USD 1.4 bln), Romania (USD 1.2 bln) and Slovenia (USD 480.6 mln).

The acquisition of Nova Televisia by Sweden's Modern Times Group for USD 968 mln was the fifth biggest deal in SEE in the third quarter of 2008.

* Source ISI DealWatch