The largest deal of the year is the purchase of Dniprovskyi Iron and Steel Works by Dniprovskyi Coke Plant

In 2021, the volume of announced and completed mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Ukraine, including corporate, privatization and venture deals of technology companies, surged by 80% to $2.14 billion against 2020. The amount of M&A deals, according to preliminary estimates of InVenture investment company, hiked by 35% to 108.

“Taking into account the low publicity and transparency of deals, we assume that the M&A market size could be at least 20% larger, i.e. $2.5 billion,” the investment company commented in the post.

The largest number of M&A deals was recorded in the following sectors:

  • IT and telecommunications — 31 deals worth $756 million;
  • agriculture and agribusiness — 17 deals worth $154 million;
  • food — 14 deals worth $58 million;
  • finance — 8 deals worth $109 million;
  • mining — 8 deals worth $108 million;
  • transport and storage — 8 deals worth $34 million.

The largest deal of the year is the purchase of Dniprovskyi Iron and Steel Works, a former member of ISD, by Dniprovskyi Coke Plant, part of the Metinvest Group.

Top 10 M&A deals in Ukraine in 2021

DateTarget companySellerAcquirerCountryDeal amount, $ millionStakeSector
July 2021Dniprovskyi Iron and Steel Works (DMK)Dniprovskyi Coke Plant / Metinvest (Rinat Akhmetov)Ukraine3401Steel industry
November 2021GrammarlyMaksym Lytvyn, Oleksiy Shevchenko, Dmytro LiderBaillie Gifford, General Catalyst, BlackRockInternational200n/aIT and telecommunications
June 2021Wholesale Network 2011 LLC / Sky Mall shopping and entertainment centerBank Pivdenny / Ivan FursinSlavian LLC (Serhiy Briukhovetsky)Ukraine1501Construction and real estate
March 2021Pokrovske Colliery Group (Pokrovske Coal Company and Sviato-Varvarynska Beneficiation Plant)Fintest Trading Co Limited (Viktor Nusenkis)Metinvest B.V.Ukraine1420.75Petrochemical industry
October 2021Glusco Energy S.A. Glusco gas station networkNisan MoiseevDimitrios AnifantakisGreece1001Retail trade
August 2021People.aiOleg RoginskyMubadala Investment Co., Akkadian Ventures, ICONIQ Capital, Lightspeed Venture PartnersInternational100n/aIT and telecommunications
November 2021Depositphotos, CrelloDmitry Sergeev, EBRD, TMT InvestmentsVistaPrint / CimpressU.S.851IT and telecommunications
February 2021CreatioKaterina KosterevaVolition Capital, Horizon CapitalU.S.68n/aIT and telecommunications
July 2021Cascade AgroCascade Investment Fund (Vitaliy Khomutynnyk)Alfa Capital Private EnterpriseUkraine601Agriculture
November 2021Bolshevik machine-building plantState Property Fund of UkraineGeneral Commerce Ltd (Oleksiy Baranov, Volodymyr Dolgopolov, Vasyl Khmelnitsky and Andriy Ivanov / AB Pillar Holdings Limited, Laram System Closed Non-diversified Venture Corporate Investment Fund)Ukraine531Construction and real estate

Source: InVenture

As reported earlier, there were only 17 mergers and acquisitions worth $3 billion in the steel industry in 2020, 50% down from 2019.

The most active participants in the industry concentration were Chinese companies that intensified M&A processes ahead of the completion of the next five-year plan.

For more details read the study on “M&A in the steel industry 2020–2021”.