A year on from accession, investment in the European Union's (EU's) newest member states has gone well beyond just multinationals. The risk profile of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) has dropped since accession, prompting a new kind of company to ask for advice on acquisition finance in the Czech Republic and in the wider region.

The changing acquisition finance landscape

As in other transition economies, the Czech acquisition finance landscape has been dominated by large, multi-billion euro financings of privatisations and other large-scale foreign investments or restructurings. In their shadow, however, a different world is now booming, one involving the financing of cross-border acquisitions of SMEs by other SMEs, both inward and outward. With most of the 'transformation' acquisitions completed, SMEs acquisitions and acquisition financing are set to become even more important for the bidders, financiers and advisers alike.