IBI in talks to sell majority stake to Japanese-owned DC Advisory

IBI Corporate Finance, one of the top deal advisers in the State, is in advanced talks to sell a majority stake in itself to DC Advisory, an investment bank owned by Japan’s Daiwa Securities Group, according to sources.

The deal is expected to value the Irish business, led by chairman and joint chief executive Tom Godfrey and joint CEO Tedd Webb, significantly higher than the €10 million price at which it was acquired from Bank of Ireland in 2017 in management buyout.

The sources were not in a position to provide details on the financial terms under discussion. However, they said that the negotiations envisage IBI’s entire team, including senior management, staying in place should a partnership deal be agreed.

Representatives for IBI, which has 28 employees, declined to comment when contacted by The Irish Times on Tuesday.

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IBI, which was set up in 1966 as a joint venture between Bank of Ireland and merchant banks Morgan Grenfell and Schroders, is routinely named by specialist mergers and acquisitions (M&A) publications as one of Ireland’s top deal advisers. Its focus is on working with the sellers of assets.

Mr Godfrey and Mr Webb each owned about 27.3 per cent of the business as of the end of last year, including interests held in their names and through company vehicles, according to filings for a holding company behind IBI.

Managing directors David Lyons and Laurence O’Shaughnessy each own about 18 per cent, while managing director and head of family business Raymond Donegan owns the remaining stake of around 9 per cent.

IBI made a €2.43 million profit last year, according to limited disclosures contained in abridged financial statements for the operating business for 2022, filed last month with the Companies Registration Office. The company also paid out €501,000 in dividends, reducing retained earnings to €9.99 million. Directors remuneration amounted to €2.76 million, up from €1.78 million for 2021.

In late 2021, the company acquired a 50 per cent stake in a specialist Dublin-based mergers and acquisitions (M&A) adviser Broker Exchange Ireland (BXI) for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2019, BXI advises on transactions between brokers working in the insurance and wealth management sectors.

Major deals IBI has worked on in the past 12 months include co-advising in on the sale of the State-backed Irish Infrastructure Fund’s (IIF) of its assets – including a contract to operate the Convention Centre Dublin, telecoms towers business Towercom, primary healthcare firm Valley Healthcare, and fibre networks company Enet – in two deals valued at a total of more than €1.2 billion.

It also advised Waterford’s Dawn Meats on the sale during the summer of its 49 per cent stake in French beef producer Elivia to its majority shareholder, Terrena. It helped coffee group Bewley’s on the recent sale its UK coffee roasting and distribution operation to focus on a revamp of its business in the Republic.

More recently, it advised Easytrip Ireland, the motorway tolling and parking tag provider, on its agreed sale last month to German-based toll payments group DKV Mobility.