The businesses operating in the developed market economies sometimes find themselves in a critical situation. The crisis could be the consequence of the fact that the company does not meet the market demand in terms of its size or management type choice. The business owners in this case could either refuse to keep operating in a certain market sector or reinforce their positions by purchasing other company's capital or by purchasing the competitor's company or by purchasing a company that produces the "lacking" product. The author of the article analyzes the M&A market in the Central and Eastern European countries and Russia. He shows the market development trends and identifies the main sectors where the M&A processes are most active. He also shows the trans-border transactions case studies. The author identifies the M&A-promoting investment-related bank services, analyzes the reasons why the services are in such a demand, shows the recent develop¬ment trends in the M&A Russian market and the role the banks play in the development.
