For the ninth year in a row, the Vlerick Business School publishes its overview of the Belgian takeover market. The M&A Monitor 2022 indicates that, after a slight decline the year before, takeover prices have risen slightly, returning to pre-corona levels.

The evolution of acquisition prices is as follows:

The averages for the year 2021 in size and by sector:

Other interesting findings

For deals between 1-20 mio euro, the own contribution to finance the acquisition fluctuates slightly below 30%; for deals above 20 mio euro, the own contribution is rather around 40%.
Vendor loans (a loan from the seller to the buyer) are included in 38% of the deals; an earn-out, whereby part of the acquisition price is paid upon the achievement of certain targets in the future, was included in 30% of the deals.
The duration of the acquisition process was 161-180 days in 35% of the cases. In 27% of the deals it was between 181-240 days.
On average four bids were recorded per deal.

Source: M&A Monitor 2022

The 2022 M&A Monitor, a view on the Belgian takeover market