Rastko Petaković, managing partner at Karanović & Nikolić, held a presentation of the latest private equity trends CEE region on the 2018 Balkans M&A and Private Equity Forum. Organized by Mergermarket, a leading media company that provides specialist news, research, analysis and data on financial markets, this is the second year this conference was held in Belgrade.

"According to numbers for the first quarter, 2018 may be a year for new records, both worldwide and in this specific region", Mr. Petaković stated.

Despite the "trend delay" in CEE, in comparison to global and Europe-wide indicators, there is quite a large amount of optimism for deal flow in the Balkans. A sharp growth of GDP in CEE (4.4% in Q1 2018) and an abandonment of austerity measures, is leading to higher consumer spending – so, a significant growth of consumer sector is anticipated.

Telecom and digital remain hot sectors for PE, while financial services are stagnating with no major deals in the pipeline. However, the PPFs acquisition of Telenor's CEE operations in March 2018 – a deal worth a staggering 2.8 billion euros, is seen as further proof of robustness in the booming telecom sector.

The Balkans M&A and Private Equity Forum, now in its second year, updates local and international deal makers on upcoming M&A situations and regional private equity coverage. This year's forum gathered regional experts in private equity and M&A to discuss upcoming industry trends, drivers and challenges in CEE region.