Portuguese company mergers at 10-year record

Last year saw the highest number of company mergers and acquisitions seen in a decade in Portugal.

According to the Portuguese competition authority (Autoridade da Concorrência – AdC), there were 82 acquisitions and mergers. (+30%) on 2022.

Most of the mergers and acquisitions were approved without any objection.

Specifically, the regulator took 82 final decisions, of which 74 (or 90%) got the “green light”. No operations were prohibited in 2023, although one was endorsed through the fulfilment of “structural commitments”. Another was withdrawn by the bidder “in the in-depth investigation phase”. In the remaining six, the AdC decided they did not need to be subjected to control procedures.

The manufacturing, trade (wholesale and retail) and repair industries of motor vehicles and motorcycles were among the activities that involved the largest number of mergers examined by the AdC in 2023.

Most of the operations passed aimed at exclusive control, that is, the purchase of the majority of the capital (64% or 78%) and reflected a greater internal appetite, since domestic mergers involving national companies, accounted for 43% of the decisions made in 2023 (compared to 34% in 2022).

However, there was a fall in the number of mergers and acquisitions involving both Portuguese and overseas companies in the EU from 42% to 12%.

In terms of company turnover, those with revenues of less than €5 million led the way, representing 40% of the operations decided by the regulator in 2023 compared to 32% in 2022 and only eight companies purchased had a turnover of over €100 million.