Irish-related merger and acquisition activity falls by over €8bn this year
According to latest data from the global information services company Experian, 199 transactions were undertaken in Ireland between January and September.
However, while the volume of merger and acquisition& activity was up on the same period last year — when 195 transactions were recorded — the combined deal value was down; from €23.96bn to €15.83bn.
Ireland now accounts for just under 2.7% of the total value of European-based transactions and 2.84% of the total volume of deals.
During the period in question, the amount of large scale deals — typically those valued at over €120m — fell from 25 to 20, with the value of those deals also falling by nearly 40%, year-on-year. However, lower value deals were more prevalent. Mid-cap deals grew in volume by 15% to 40; with values increasing by just over 30% on average. However, deal flow in the small-cap sector fell in volume by just over 11%.
“There has been a significant upswing in the mid-market deal flow for the year to date; leading to a small improvement overall on the corresponding period in 2010. Merger and acquisition& volumes in Ireland have been fuelled by overseas investment and ongoing asset disposal programmes within the financial services industry,” said Experian Ireland managing director Howard Lewis.
Senior associate Rita Crowley of Cork-based Michael Powell Solicitors, said: “The data highlights the fact that although there has been a reduction in the number of high value mergers and acquisitions over the last 12 months, there has been a large increase in the number of lower-value merger and acquisitions&.
“We have found that the smaller companies are either merging with competitors or they are disposing of their businesses altogether, primarily due to higher competitiveness in the marketplace and the lack of funding available to SMEs.”
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