The Ireland M&A Review 2025, published by William Fry and Mergermarket, provides a comprehensive overview of developments in the Irish M&A market during 2025 and offers an outlook for the year ahead.

Highlights include:

• Deal trends. Ireland saw 524 deals worth a combined €19.5bn in 2025, representing a 3% year-on-year increase in volume. However, there was a marked drop in deal value during the year with a 35% reduction in aggregate value. It is important to note that the year-on-year value comparison is skewed somewhat by the 2024 megadeal which saw Apollo Global Management take a 49% stake in Intel Corp’s Fab 34 for €10.1bn. When viewed over a longer period total value and volume levels were higher than seven out of the last 10 years.
• Sector watch. Energy, mining and utilties was the largest sector in value terms, with €4.84bn worth of transactions in 2025 – a 25% market share. In volume terms, meanwhile, business services was the busiest sector of the year, ahead of technology, media & telecoms and financial services.
• Inbound activity. There were 309 inbound deals for Irish companies last year, worth a combined €14bn – that was up 9% by number of transactions on the prior year, but down 47% in total value, as international investors seemed to focus on mid-market opportunities rather than large, transformational acquisitions.
• Private equity. PE remained a significant driver of Irish M&A activity in 2025, with PE firms involved in seven of the 20 largest Irish transactions. This included the largest deal of 2025, Ardian’s €2.5bn acquisition of the Energia Group, which saw PE participation on both the buy-side and sell-side.

The report is also available at williamfry.com