Value of Irish mergers soars

Ireland accounted for nearly 3% of all European merger and acquisition activity in the first quarter of this year.

Tue, 24 Apr, 2012 - 01:00

Geoff Percival

While the number of deals completed here was down on the corresponding period last year, the combined transaction value was significantly up.

Fifty-six transactions were announced during the first three months of the year, 12.5% down on the 64 in the first quarter of 2011.

However, the combined value of the transactions this year amounted to just under €7.6bn, significantly up from €1.75bn last year.

“There has been a significant upswing in the value of deal flow for the year to date. M&A volumes in Ireland have been fuelled by overseas investment and ongoing asset disposal programmes within the financial services industry,” said Wendy Driver, business development manager at global information services specialist, Experian, which published the figures.

Ireland represented 2.88% of the total volume of European transactions in the first quarter and 2.52% of the total value of deals.

In the corresponding period last year, the country represented just 0.9% of transactions by value.

The study covers all types of deals, including mergers, acquisitions, flotations, rights issues, and share placements.

There was a significant increase in the number of deals with values over €120m, with Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo’s €5.47bn takeover of Dublin-based RBS Aviation Capital ranking the largest.

The level of mid-cap deals completed — measured at anything priced between €12m and €120m — fell by over 40%, with 10 transactions carried out compared to 17 in the same period last year. Values also fell in this bracket, from nearly €760m a year ago to €414m this year.

Meanwhile, deal flow in the small market value (€12m or less) segment decreased from 19 transactions in the first three months of 2011 to 10 for the corresponding period of 2012.

However, the aggregate value of deals increased, with €59.4m worth of small transactions carried out, up 26.3% from the €47m worth of deals last year.