M&A activity reaches €4bn

Irish companies were involved in deals worth almost €4 billion in the first three months of the year. The figure was 75 per cent ahead of the same period last year even though there was a sharp decline in the number of transactions taking place.

A total of 29 mergers and acquisitions (M&As) were completed in the first quarter, down from 70 in the same period a year earlier. However, the figures do not include details of acquisitions by either Kerry Group or CRH - both of which rank highly in M&A activity - as neither group has yet announced details of its acquisitions in the first quarter.

In value terms, the €3.998 billion continues the sharp increase in the value of Irish M&A activity in the last three months of 2004.

The latest data is distorted by the €2.3 billion acquisition of Warner Chilcott (formerly Galen) by private equity consortium Waren Acquisitions, which exceeds the total value of acquisitions in the year-ago period.

Joe Devine, director of corporate finance firm Ion Equity which carried out the survey, said that, on a like-for-like basis - excluding Warner Chilcott, CRH and Kerry - the value of M&A activity in the three-month period rose to €1.7 billion from €1.2 billion last year.

Aside from the Warner Chilcott deal, the largest transaction was the €420 million sale of Superquinn to a consortium of private investors.

Mr Devine said the quarter was also marked by a number of "ambitious strategic deals", including Bank of Scotland Ireland's €120 million purchase of 52 ESB shops and Kingspan's €98 million move for timber construction group Century Homes.