The political and economic landscapes of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have undergone rapid and significant change over the past 20 years and the region is now emerging as an attractive private equity market. With this in mind, KPMG in association with Mergermarket surveyed Private Equity professionals both inside and outside the Emerging Europe region and found that ‘Big Four’ Accountancy organizations are the leading advisors for Private Equity Emerging European Transactions.

Other key findings included:

Emerging Europe is selected by 65 percent of respondents as the most likely region for Western private equity firms to invest in, while 32 percent each named Asia and Russia and other CIS countries. Meanwhile, only 11 percent thought that South America would be a prime location for Western private equity investment. However, to boost private flows into the region, 71 percent of respondents said that national governments should implement favourable tax incentives. Likewise, 53 percent of respondents also thought that governments could reduce protectionist measures against foreign firms to encourage private equity investment. Fifty two percent of respondents consider three to four years an appropriate investment period for private equity acquisitions, while a combined 17 percent thought that a shorter timeframe would be appropriate. A sizable proportion (31 percent) believed that investment periods should be in excess of four years.

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