MOSCOW, November 14 (RIA Novosti) - Russia’s mergers and acquisitions market grew 64.9% in the first nine months of 2006, year-on-year, reaching $20 billion, with the number of deals rising from 201 to 250 in the same period. According to an overview prepared by Russia’s business monthly Sliyaniya y Pogloshchenia (Mergers and Acquisitions) for a national forum on mergers and acquisitions, the M&A market in Russia will reach from $55 billion to $57 billion in 2006. The oil and gas industry leads the market, with a total of 15 deals worth $7.164 billion, followed by the retail trade and mineral-extraction sectors, with 33 deals ($2.286 billion) and 10 deals ($1.674 billion), respectively.
The figure for the metals sector, which posted $1.335 billion from 11 deals, does not include a possible merger between Russian aluminum companies RusAl and SUAL [RTS: SUAL] and Switzerland’s Glencore.
The Russian and Swiss metals giants applied to Russia’s Federal Anti-Monopoly Service Monday for authorization to merge their assets and form United Company RusAL, with an estimated value of $25-30 billion. Russia’s M&A market totaled $50.2 billion in 2005, up 65% from 2004, according to the audit and consulting company Ernst & Young.