‘Mega-deals’ doubled M&A value last year

A series of ‘mega-deals’ led to what law firm William Fry has described as an “almost unprecedented” surge in the value of merger-and-acquisition (M&A) activity in Ireland last year. 

The firm’s review of 2024 shows that the value of deals in the Irish market hit €27.5 billion last year – an increase of 115% on the 2023 figure. 

William Fry said that the significant rise was partly due to some “particularly large” deals, noting that the 499 deals recorded in 2024 represented an increase of just 1% on the previous year. 

Intel deal tops list 

The biggest deal last year was buy-out firm Apollo Global Management's agreement to pay €10.1 billion to acquire a 49% stake from chip-maker Intel in a joint-venture entity related to Fab 34, Intel’s high-volume chip manufacturing facility based in Leixlip. 

The second-largest deal, in the aircraft-leasing sector, saw Avolon Holdings acquire Castlelake Aviation for €4.1 billion. 

Most transactions last year, however, were categorised as ‘mid-market’, with almost 90% of deals reported worth between €5 million and €250 million. 

Andrew McIntyre (head of corporate/M&A at William Fry) said that the Irish market had shown “remarkable resilience” in a year marked by global political and economic uncertainty. The value of M&A had fallen by 20% in 2023. 

TMT leads way 

The firm’s report shows that the technology, media, and telecoms (TMT) sector continued to lead the way, accounting for 22% of all deals and three of the five largest. 

In value terms, financial services finished 2024 in second place to TMT, reflecting the Castlelake Aviation deal and two large sales of the Government’s shares in AIB. 

The value of acquisitions by international buyers more than doubled to €23.6 billion, although the number of deals in this category rose by just 2% to 275. 

Overall, US and British buyers were the most active in Ireland, recording 101 and 64 transactions, respectively. 

There were 84 transactions involving private-equity firms during 2024 – the same number as the previous year. In value terms, however, private-equity investment in Irish companies soared 523% to €16.4 billion, lifted by the Fab 34 transaction. 

‘Cautious optimism’ on 2025 

“We remain cautiously optimistic about the outlook for M&A both in Ireland and internationally,” said McIntyre, pointing to reasons to be positive. 

“The global economic picture is clearer, and political uncertainties have started to ease after the year of elections. This may see pent-up demand for deal-making released from both corporations and private-equity firms,” he stated. 

The William Fry lawyer added, however, that the geo-political environment was “fraught with risk”. 

“Given the more stable political environment here in Ireland, the potential in the renewables sector, the ongoing strength of the TMT market, and the consolidation in areas such as business services, there is genuine optimism for a further uplift in Irish dealmaking in 2025,” he concluded.