The dynamic M&A and Private Equity practice has been the standard bearer for Jalsovszky in the past few months, mainly driven by the post-pandemic release of investment funds and booming production and healthcare sectors in Hungary, according to Practice Leader Agnes Bejo.
“In general, as an independent law firm with a wide plethora of specialties, we have an equally wide set of clients,” Bejo begins. “From large multinational corporations all the way to local, private individuals, so we engage with all parts of the market.” As such, Bejo highlights the firm’s M&A and Private Equity practice as having been the most active of late.
“We have seen a strong uptick in the number of mandates since early spring,” she says. “What is interesting is that we’ve been engaging more sellers than purchasers, but that might just be a random occurrence – all of our projects have been most colorful and quite varied,” she explains. “What we have seen is a market shift from venture capital and private equity investments dominating to more of a strategic M&A landscape.”
And, speaking of the most active industry areas spurring the work of Jalsovszky’s M&A and Private Equity practice, Bejo reports “the production, software/IT, and healthcare sectors are quite active. Early this year, we closed the biggest private healthcare transaction, the acquisition of the Da Vinci clinic,” she says. “Up until now, this year, despite general expectations, I have to say that we have not felt any market fluctuations or uncertainties.”
The drivers for such strong levels of the firm’s activity are not as specifically outlined. Bejo attributes this, instead, to wider post-pandemic market flows. “After the brunt of the pandemic passed, we have seen clear tendencies on behalf of investors to get back into action. A lot of funds were sitting unused out there, and the money that had laid dormant during the pandemic began to flow and fuel deals,” she explains. Such strong investor appetite being satiated was reflected in vibrant transaction markets. “We have experienced a minor slowdown in August, but I believe this to be more because of the holiday season.”
Finally, looking ahead, Bejo remains confident and hopeful about Jalsovszky’s M&A and Private Equity practice activities. “While there have been some warning signs that there might be market slowdowns on account of the war and the energy crisis, especially in the light of the FDI screening regime becoming somewhat more rigid recently, we are yet to feel any consequences of these in our work,” she reports. “Of course, these aren’t easy times, and clients might become a little bit more cost aware and cautious, which could, in turn, lead to a smaller investment appetite. Still, we do not expect our practice to be adversely impacted in any great way and are looking forward to more interesting work to report on,” Bejo concludes.
