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The picture for Hungary was less rosy, however.
Using London Stock Exchange Group data, the report presented by the Budapest office of int’l law firm A&O Shearman described M&A activity worldwide as “resurgent, especially in the second half of the year,” with the number of recorded M&A deals worldwide rising from 52,057 in 2024 to 53,366 last year, a mere 2.5% increase, but on a large base.
This trend bodes well for the future, the report intimated, since “the resurgent confidence enabling very big-ticket deals [indicating the] markets look still more vibrant.”
Naturally, within these gigantic numbers, the Central and Eastern European Region plays only a minor role. Nonetheless, it more than matched worldwide trends, seeing deals to a total value of USD 33.9 billion, up USD 10.8 bln, or 47% on the USD 23.1 bln achieved in 2024.
“Global M&A activity is rebounding sharply towards post-pandemic highs. Central and Eastern European M&A activity has held up well over the past couple of years, amid challenging times in the broader European economy. U.S. policy shifts and concerns over tariffs and geopolitical tensions have not arrested this M&A boom,” Balázs Sahin-Tóth, counsel and head of A&O Shearman Budapest’s M&A practice, told a press conference called for the report’s release.
However, in contrast to all this buoyancy, M&A activity in Hungary slumped, with values tumbling to a mere USD 369 mln last year, just 7.7% of the USD 4.751 bln achieved in 2024.
True, as Dániel Rácz, senior associate at A&O Shearman Budapest noted, 2024 had been an “exceptional” year, skewed by the joint acquisition in June 2024 of Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport by Hungarian state investment fund Corvinus and French airports operator Vinci Airports, valued at USD 4.43 bln.
This one transaction, representing 93% of the total M&A value, dwarfed the remaining 56 deals in Hungary that year, which had a total value of just USD 320 mln.
Hence Rácz’s claim that the 2025 results had, both in value and deal size, “returned closer to the levels that we have seen over the past few years.” Indeed, take out the airport transaction, and the value per deal in Hungary comes to USD 5.7 mln, precisely the same as last year’s average from 65 deals.
But does this make last year’s USD 369 mln total the norm for Hungary? Going back to 2019 and using earlier Allen & Overy annual reports, M&A values in Hungary fluctuate wildly from a high of USD 3.2 bln in 2022 to a paltry USD 156.7 mln a year later. The annual average for each of those five years is USD 1.42 bln.
Inevitably, the top years in that period each had at least one landmark transaction that distorted the total, but this average is still almost four times the USD 369 mln deal value chalked up last year.
Moreover, as the law firm noted, even that value was largely dependent on a series of deals between the Hungarian state and the IT/telecoms/defense conglomerate 4iG, worth some USD 230 mln. Take these out, and the remaining USD 139 mln, over 64 transactions means an average size of just USD 2.2 mln.
So, is Hungary’s M&A market at a standstill? Not so, says Sahin-Tóth, but on top of the turbulence caused by U.S. President Trump’s tariff announcements, Hungary does face additional uncertainties.
One is the forthcoming election, with both potential buyers and sellers on hold, awaiting the result before committing to any deal. Hungary’s proximity to the war in Ukraine is another spoiler driving down evaluations. Another cause is the country’s relatively immature legal system governing M&A, coupled with government sensitivity to foreign ownership (See box).
But according to Sahin-Tóth, “AI [artificial intelligence] globally is doing very well. Anything that has to do with AI, data centers, and energy, supplying AI factories, energy generally,” are active sectors.
These trends involve Hungary, where there are “drillings [for hydrocarbons] on the Great Plain, plus solar energy [developments],” all of which, he says, are likely to spawn future M&A deals as specialist projects, for example in energy storage, are sold off to meet the needs of larger investors.
Hungary is understandably considered to be near a war zone, a negative in the eyes of potential investors. Yet, such worries do not seem to have affected M&A activity in either Poland, which saw a whopping 564 deals worth USD 14.8 bln in 2025, nor the Czech Republic (USD 6.7 bln from 101 transactions last year).
So, why is M&A activity in Hungary so low? One cause is the regulatory regime, and how it is affected by political mood, particularly government concerns for domestic ownership over what it deems “strategic” sectors.
Such concerns were behind the Ministry for National Economy blocking the sale of struggling dairy company Alföldi Tej to a Greek investor last summer. The ministry adjudged this as posing a “significant risk” to the food supply, saying the company processes 20% of national milk production. Naturally, investors see such blocks, coming after months of expensive negotiations, as a disincentive to serious enquiries in the first place.
Attila Kőmíves, counsel and head of A&O Shearman Budapest’s EU and competition law practice, while stressing that he possessed no insider knowledge of the affair, says the “big issue” is that there is no structured, legal way “for negotiating out of a problem like this.”
“What happens is you get a prohibition, like the Greek guys, and then they need to negotiate through informal channels. They don’t know who to call. There is no administrative procedure for resolving the issue, and this is really uncomfortable for people,” he told the Budapest Business Journal.
In contrast, most developed countries have a formal process where government concerns can be remedied. In sensitive German or French deals, “you may need to install a German director,” Kőmíves explains.
True, reports that the Greek investor is now talking to the government suggests there may be a solution, for example, if there is a guarantee that “he will not destroy Hungarian milk production,” Sahin-Tóth says.
Anti-foreigner sentiment is another issue, such as recent statements by Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy on the need to reduce the number of banks in Hungary. Similarly, the recent pledge by Minister of Transport and Construction János Lázár to “take an axe” to the agriculture, food and retail sectors is hardly conducive to attracting foreign capital. Sahin-Tóth, however, played down any resulting worries.
“That’s his style. Probably that was to the local electorate, so you should not take that at face value,” he said, adding, “At least, let’s hope so.”
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of February 27, 2026.
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