Industry, Energy / Utilities and Consumer Affairs have been the most active sectors in Europe in corporate operations.
Improving economic confidence and economic outlook, along with the availability of financing, propel many middle-market companies towards growth via acquisitions.

Grafton Corporate Development; A firm specialized in the execution of corporate operations, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), with extensive experience in international transactions, has presented its International Buy Side Initiatives report for the second half of 2017.

This report includes the international investment initiatives in Spain and Portugal for the coming months. In Iberia, during 2017, significant activity was taking place due to aggregate transaction values ​​in the Services, Transportation, Construction and Utilities sectors. In addition, executing operations derived from the acquisition of Productive units in companies in Bankruptcy.

From Grafton Corporate Development, it is expected that, in the last months of 2017, M&A activity will accelerate compared to what happened the rest of the year. In general, 2017 has been a positive year, as there has been a notable increase in M&A activity compared to previous years.

As for who is showing interest in operations via M&A, middle-market companies try to take advantage of the situation of economic development and improvement in access to financing or investors to address inorganic corporate growth programs, via acquisitions. Furthermore, as Ulises Vegas, Managing Director of Grafton Corporate Development points out, “we are seeing that companies with a broad profile, ranging from national companies, private and family groups to multinational corporations or financial investors, establish inorganic growth as a strategic objective, putting ongoing procurement programs in a structured way ”.