MOSCOW, June 23 (RIA Novosti) - The mergers and acquisition market in the oil and gas sector in Russia and former Soviet republics grew 19%, year-on-year, in 2007 to $35.7 billion, international auditor PriceWaterhouseCoopers said on Monday.
PWC prepared a survey of M&A deals in the oil and gas sector of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose association of former Soviet republics except the Baltic States.
According to PWC, a surge in activity in the oil and gas sector was caused by the continued restructuring of Russia's energy sector.
Despite the increased value of M&A deals, their number was almost unchanged from 2006 and stood at 41 transactions as compared with 42 a year earlier. At the same time, the average cost of an M&A deal grew 21% in the reporting period to $870 million or 200-300% more compared with the cost of M&A deals in other geographical regions, PWC said.
