KIEV, April 23 - The volume of deals on the Ukrainian merges and acquisitions (M&A) market increased 44% on the year to $3.4 billion in 2006, PricewaterhouseCoopers Partner Margaret Dezse said Friday.

About 53% of the deals involved foreign investors acquiring assets in Ukraine, and another 42% were between Ukrainian companies, with 5% accounted for by deals for Ukrainian companies to acquire foreign assets, Dezse said.