Mergermarket and William Fry LLP are pleased to present the Ireland M&A Review 2023. This report provides a comprehensive overview of developments in the Irish M&A market during 2023 and offers an outlook for the year ahead.

Highlights include:

• Irish dealmaking proves robust in global context. The number of deals, at 334, was up 10% from 2022, comparing very favourably to the performance of the wider European (down 11.4%) and global markets (down 15.8%) for the year. On the other hand, the aggregate value of Irish M&A deals reached just €11.8bn, down 20% compared to 2022. However, dealmaking in Ireland remains very healthy by historical (pre-Covid) standards.
• Mid-market dominates deal distribution. Transformational transactions have been somewhat thinner on the ground this year and have largely been concentrated in the mid-market, with 86% of deals (where value was disclosed) priced at between €5m and €250m.
• Ireland remains attractive to overseas bidders. Around two-thirds of the deals in 2023 involved an overseas bidder (67%), with 225 inbound transactions overall. Those deals were collectively worth €11.3bn – 96% of the market. Indeed, 19 of the top 20 deals in Ireland during 2023 were cross-border transactions.
• Financial services and TMT top sector charts. In value terms, Ireland’s financial services sector recorded more M&A activity than any other industry during 2023, accounting for 35% of overall deal value in 2023. In deal volume terms, the leader in Ireland in 2023 was the TMT sector, which accounted for 25% of transactions announced.

The report is also available at williamfry.com.