VIENNA (Reuters) - Energy and telecommunications will lead merger and acquisition activity in eastern Europe over the next year, Willi Hemetsberger, the head of global markets at UniCredit (CRDI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said on Tuesday.
Hemetsberger said at the Reuters Central European Investment Summit that large energy deals were on the agenda in Russia and Turkey, while infrastructure projects in Russia would also need a lot of international funding.
"Particularly I think energy is the biggest game," he said.
"But there will be others as well. There will be games probably in the telecoms market starting again, where there will be consolidators moving in."
Turkey had postponed the sale of the 20 electricity grids under its IMF-backed privatization program until after the general elections, which took place in July.
The new government has not yet revived the process but it is expected to complete the privatization tenders for power distribution in 2008.
The government has also been looking for extra capacity, and the capital Ankara is planning a tender this year to sell its gas network.
Russia's Unified Energy Systems EESR.MM has agreed on the sale of five of the six nationwide power providers it is divesting and on the sale of about seven of the 14 regional power providers it plans to shed by July 2008.
Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's largest gas company, will be the biggest power provider using fossil fuels following the divestments after agreeing on the purchase of four of the 20 businesses. Continued...
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.
| Paper | Aug 20 - 21, 2008 | Manufacturing |
| Japan Investment | Jul 01 - 2, 2008 | Country Summits |
| Global Real Estate | Jun 23 - 25, 2008 | Real Estate |
| Consumer and Retail | Jun 16 - 18, 2008 | Consumer Retail |
| Investment Outlook | Jun 09 - 12, 2008 | Financial Services / Exchanges |
