Cláudia Cruz Almeida is quoted by Jornal Económico in an analysis of the prospects for the M&A sector in 2025, projecting a significant recovery. This expectation is reinforced by the reduction in interest rates and the expected growth of the Portuguese economy by 0.3 percentage points compared to 2023.
 
In the article entitled ‘Mergers and acquisitions recover next year’, Cláudia Cruz Almeida explains that ‘we are currently on an upward trajectory and, if the economic climate remains favourable, a large number of transactions are expected, some of them large-scale’.
 
In 2023, VdA led the ranking of transactions, in the same year that, according to the Jornal Económico, the most influential sectors in M&A were real estate and tourism, IT&T, infrastructure, energy - with an emphasis on renewable energies and energy transition - as well as industry and healthcare/biotechnology.
 
Between January and October of this year, the Jornal Económico reports a 20 % decrease in the number of transactions, which Cláudia Cruz Almeida attributes to ‘uncertainty on the international geopolitical and national political fronts and the inflation situation, which continues despite the drop in interest rates that began to be felt at the start of the second half of the year’.

The trends that dominated the end of 2023 and continued into 2024 included the extension of decision-making periods regarding the completion of transactions, driven by detailed analysis and due diligence processes. In addition, there was a sharp difference between the price expectations of sellers and buyers, ‘which requires the ability to design transaction structures that fill this gap, such as the use of earn-out clauses or phased sale solutions,’ explains Cláudia Cruz de Almeida.

The VdA lawyer predicts that 2025 will be a year of significant transactions in the transport, infrastructure, financial, industry, healthcare, IT&T sectors, as well as continued dynamism in real estate and tourism.