Record mergers and acquisitions in second quarter

The second quarter of 2006 was one of the most active for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) involving Irish companies, both in terms of the value and number of deals, the second quarter M&A Tracker survey by corporate finance firm Ion Equity revealed today.

According to figures compiled by Ion, the value of deals completed in the second quarter more than doubled from €1.8bn in the second quarter of 2005 to almost €4.2bn, while the number of deals also more than doubled from 36 to 77.