Irish M&A activity up 11% in Q1

Irish-related merger and acquisition & activity has further picked up since the start of the year, with foreign purchases by Irish companies playing a major role.

Data published by NCB Corporate Finance yesterday show that the volume of deals completed in the first three months of 2012 was up by 11.4% on the final quarter of 2011; with 51 deals carried out compared to 44 in the three months to the end of December.

While the first-quarter’s deal value — €792m — was down from the €922m in the same period last year, the number of deals carried out between the beginning of January and end of March is still broadly in line with 2011’s average quarterly deal volume of 55 transactions.