The market capitalisation of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE), comprising the Regulated Market and the Multilateral Trading System (MTS), exceeded the EUR 100 billion threshold (RON 537.7 billion) for the first time in its history at the end of 2025, the highest level in the past 19 years, and growth accelerated in 2026, according to the ninth edition of the PwC Romania report “Bucharest Stock Exchange and M&A valuation multiples”.

The Regulated Market accounted for RON 523.7 billion, up by 49% compared to 2024, while the MTS/AeRO segment reached RON 14.6 billion, up by 15%.

The BET index increased by 46% in 2025, to 24,439 points, its best annual performance since 2009, while the BET-TR index, which also reflects the dividends paid by its constituent companies, advanced by 55%, to 57,230 points, ranking among the top-performing equity indices globally.

“2025 was a landmark year for the local capital market. Despite a backdrop marked by a large budget deficit, the highest inflation rate in the European Union and persistent geopolitical tensions, the BET index delivered its best annual performance in 16 years, and market capitalisation exceeded EUR 100 billion for the first time. MSCI’s reclassification of Romania as an Advanced Frontier Market in June 2025, along with FTSE Russell’s confirmation of 14 Romanian companies in its global indices, shows that international investors’ interest in the local market is strengthening”, said Sorin Petre, Leader of the Valuation and Economics department at PwC Romania.

2025 and the first part of 2026 brought three initial public offerings that were large by the standards of the local capital market, alongside several smaller transactions. The three major deals completed were: Cris-Tim Family Holding (RON 454 million, 42x oversubscription, November 2025), Electro-Alfa International (RON 579.6 million, 60x oversubscription, March 2026) and Christian ’76 Tour (RON 149 million, June 2026).

The number of active retail investors on the BSE grew from 226,000 at the end of 2024 to over 285,000 at the end of 2025, an increase of 26% and four times the level recorded in 2020.

“Although market capitalisation grew by 49% in 2025, traded value decreased slightly, by 1%, which shows that the strong appreciation in prices was not matched by a similar rise in trading activity, with liquidity remaining concentrated in a limited number of issuers. The signals from 2026 are, however, positive: in the first quarter, the capitalisation of the Regulated Market exceeded RON 550 billion, 5% above the level recorded at the end of 2025, while traded value was 64% higher than in Q1 2025. For the next step, promotion to FTSE Advanced Emerging market status, several structural elements still need to be addressed, the most important being the absence of a Central Counterparty Clearing House (CCP) for equities, while listings of state-owned enterprises would be a key catalyst”, added Sorin Petre.

Other conclusions of the study

• The five most traded shares on the Regulated Market in 2025 were Banca Transilvania (28% of total traded value), OMV Petrom, Hidroelectrica, Aquila Part Prod Com and Romgaz, together accounting for 58% of total traded value. As in previous years, they belonged to the financial services, Oil & Gas and Electricity sectors.
• The average return of the capital market more than the risk-free rate, which rewards investors for taking on higher risk, was 7.6 percentage points for the BET index and 15.3 percentage points for the BET-TR index over the period 2015–2025. In 2025, the excess return reached 37 percentage points for BET and 45 percentage points for BET-TR, against a risk-free rate of 6.8%.
• Romania’s equity market capitalisation to GDP ratio stood at 27.7% as of 31 December 2025, higher than in previous years but still below the levels observed in other regional markets such as Greece, Croatia, and Hungary.
• The number of BSE-listed companies with ESG scores reached 24 at the end of 2025, with a combined market capitalisation of RON 280.8 billion. Companies in the Oil & Gas, Electricity and Financial services sectors account for approximately 90% of the capitalisation of the companies with an ESG score.
• With a significantly larger number of listed companies (331) and a total capitalisation of EUR 105.5 billion, companies listed on the BSE remain on average smaller than those listed on markets such as Poland, Greece or Czechia, which positions the BSE as a mid-sized market in the region.
• The local bond market reached a record level in 2025, with total issuance of EUR 6.3 billion (RON 31.8 billion), almost three times the 2022 level, mostly generated by government bonds. Corporate issuance rebounded strongly, to EUR 2 billion, the highest level in the analysed period. In 2025, 27 out of the 33 corporate bond listings were carried out exclusively on international markets.
• In 2025, the median EBITDA multiple of the companies listed on the BSE main market was 9.7x, while on the AeRO Premium segment it stood at 9.0x. The average EBITDA multiple derived from the analysis of transactions successfully completed on the local market in 2025 was 7.6x, below the historical average of 8.2x. The gap might be explained by the fact that companies listed on the BSE are generally perceived as more stable, whereas private transactions often involve companies valued based on their future growth prospects.
• On the Regulated Market, the highest median P/E multiple was recorded by the Consumer and Healthcare sectors (20.6x) and by IT&C (17.8x), whereas the lowest levels were observed in the Real estate (7.6x) and financial services (7.9x) sectors. The aggregate median P/E multiple was 12.7x in 2025, above the average of the last 19 years (11.2x).

About the study

The study presents the trend of valuation multiples over the period 2007–2025, based on the analysis of 85 companies listed on the main market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE), focusing on the following sectors of activity: Electricity, Consumer, Oil & gas, financial services, Healthcare, Industrial, Materials, IT&C and Real estate. The study also presents the multiples derived for the 47 active companies in the Premium category of the MTS/AeRO market, as well as the evolution of the EBITDA multiple for the mergers and acquisitions market, based on a set of 1,016 selected transactions closed over the period 2007–2025. You can read the full report here.

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