* Greek M&A deals down 39 pct in 2015 to 1.4 bln euros
* Outlook may brighten if privatisations go ahead in 2016
* Deals could rise fivefold to 7 bln in 2016- PwC
By George Georgiopoulos
ATHENS, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Greece suffered a dry spell in
mergers and acquisitions last year, hurt by the government's
standoff with international lenders, but prospects may improve
this year if privatisations proceed and all goes well with its
pending bailout review.
The value of Greek mergers and acquisitions fell 39 percent
to 1.4 billion euros ($1.52 billion) last year, dwarfed by some
584 billion euros of M&A deals in Europe, business consultancy
PricewaterhouseCoopers said on Tuesday.
"It was unprecedented, we had two elections, one referendum,
capital controls, a bank holiday and a third bailout. All this
had an impact," said PwC executive director Costas Mitropoulos,
who formerly headed Greece's privatisation agency.
Activity should improve this year with three privatisations
on the table and banks expected to continue divesting non-core
operations.
Deals may rise fivefold and top 7 billion euros if there is
no hiccup with Greece's compliance with bailout-prescribed
reforms and privatisations move ahead, Mitropoulos said.
Reflecting the trust deficit afflicting Greece in the eyes
of investors, only one Greek company - OTE Telecom OTEr.AT -
managed to place a 4.37 percent international bond last year and
raise 370 million euros.
Out of the 29 M&A transactions last year, about three
quarters or 1.03 billion euros took place in the financial and
pharmaceutical sectors.
Among them, BC Partners bought Pharmathen for 470 million
euros, Canada's Fairfax Holdings FFH.TO acquired Eurolife
Insurance for 316 million and Kuwait's Al Ahli Bank took over
Piraeus Bank's BOPr.AT Egyptian network for 140 million euros.
But privatisations stagnated, raising only 268 million euros
for state coffers, well below a target of 2.2 billion euros.
($1 = 0.9201 euros)