The M&A Monitor 2020 - Some key figures of the Belgian takeover market

As usual, the Vlerick Business School publishes their M&A Monitor, which provides a global overview of the Belgian acquisition market. The annual figures refer to 2019. The impact of the corona crisis has not been translated yet into this study.


Acquisition prices have seen the strongest positive trend in the segment of acquisitions <€ 5 million. Overall, the multiple of 6.5 has remained identical to the previous year.



*EV= enterprise value

Multiples obviously vary depending on the sector in which the company operates. Construction has the lowest multiple on average (4.8). For activities in the pharmaceutical industry, an average multiple is used that is more than twice as high.

An overview of the last 3 years gives the following trends:

                                 2019                                                                                             2018                                                                                             2017



In 35% of the deals, the seller of the company grants a loan to the buyer as an additional financing channel to complete the financing. This has been fairly stable over the past 3 years.


In 1/3 of the acquisitions, a part of the acquisition price is linked to future results of the company. A slight increase can be observed in those cases.

Source: Vlerick M&A Monitor