Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in Ireland bucked the global trend with volume holding steady and value increasing by nearly 30% during the first six months of the year, a new report by law firm Philip Lee has found.
The report said that between January and June, there were 351 M&A deals involving an Irish business during the first half of the year — which is a 2% decline year-on-year. The total value of M&A deals in Ireland hit €20bn — an increase from the €15.43bn recorded during the same period last year.
Partner at Philip Lee, Eoghan Doyle, said they are expecting to see an improvement on the number of deals by the end of September.
“Ireland is currently outperforming the global market, with most other jurisdictions facing a more pronounced decline in M&A activity volume so far this year,” he said.
Of the 351 deals recorded, private equity was involved in 29% of them spending over €13bn — up from €8bn last year.
This was boosted by the US investor Apollo Global Management’s €10.2bn acquisition of a stake in the Fab24 semiconductor facility from Intel, which represents the biggest ever private equity investment in Ireland.
Alongside this deal, other big inward deals included an €805m investment in data centre operator Echelon from Goldman Sachs and the €400m buy-out of the Beacon Hospital by Australian infrastructure investment Macquarie.
The tech sector saw the largest volume of deals in Ireland during the six month period with 96 in total.
“There was strong interest in companies operating in the fintech and software development space, often with an AI component, as firms looked to enhance their activity in this area,” Mr Doyle said.
The UK remained the leading country in terms of investment into, and acquisitions of, Irish companies. Similarly, the UK remained the location of choice for Irish bidding companies and investors, followed by the USA, where tech and manufacturing were the leading sectors.
There were 57 deals involving an Irish company buying a business in a different country. The biggest transaction was in manufacturing was Glanbia’s acquisition of Flavor Producers for around €340m.