M&A activity in CEE appears to be at its highest levels in several years, with particularly strong interest in the TMT, health care, logistics and manufacturing sectors. Financial sponsors, including private equity, continue to play an important role. While there appear to be fewer large cap LBOs, private equity is increasingly backing management teams of CEE e-commerce and software companies, and providing growth capital for CEE groups pursuing buy-and-build strategies inside and outside of the region. One thing to note is that the region has become even more attractive for strategic investors seeing the importance of manufacturing capacities within Europe, which translates into a highly competitive market especially in mid-market and large cap transactions.