Despite the economic slowdown, corporate finance houses are keeping busy with plenty of merger and acquisition activity, and fundraising rounds.

In the boom years of the late 1990s, when public offerings were an almost daily occurrence, global corporate activity may have tailed off sharply but Irish corporate finance houses say business in the first half of this year was good, as the collapse in equity markets threw up different types of deals.

In a week when Jefferson Smurfit and Green Property succumbed to the temptations of life outside the stock markets and the directors of Gresham fought a battle for control of the board with largest shareholder Red Sea, Bank of Ireland-owned IBI, one of the biggest players in the market, describes activity in the first half of the year as hectic and says it continues to be very busy.

Others say, while activity is not as high as in 2001, there is a good flow of deals, although in general they are smaller than last year.

Unlike London, where corporate finance activity is in the doldrums and banks have been laying off staff, the Irish market was never heavily dependent on new issues. A welcome bonus in the good times, they were never the bread and butter of the business and, therefore, it has been less badly hit by their fall-off.

Although the cancellation of planned listings by C&C and Spectel earlier this year came as a blow to the market, other types of transactions are emerging to take their place. With share prices in the doldrums, more and more companies are looking for ways of realising value for shareholders, including exiting the market.

The economic downturn and the recent accounting scandals are also prompting firms to look closely at their businesses and identify the parts worth keeping.

"We are seeing continuing merger and acquisition activity as companies sell off non-core business and retrench into their core areas," says Ms Emer Finnan, corporate finance director at NCB Stockbrokers.

Corporate financiers also suggest that high-profile deals such as Eircom, and more recently Smurfit and Green, have helped draw the attention of international venture capitalist to the Irish market.

Searching for a home for their cash in the wake of the collapse of the global IT sector, the Irish market has provided a welcome haven of "old economy" stocks for those keen to reduce their exposure to more volatile sectors.

Without doubt, the most high-profile deals this year have been private-equity transactions, many financed by companies overseas. At the top of the list stands the $3.7 billion (€3.8 billion) offer for Jefferson Smurfit from Chicago-based Madison Dearborn.

The bid, which will see the sixth-largest company on the Irish Stock Exchange depart the market, was approved by shareholders earlier this week and is now awaiting legal and regulatory clearance before it is finalised.

The other notable transaction involving a publicly quoted company is the takeover of Green Property by Rodinheights, the consortium led by Green managing director Mr Stephen Vernon.

The €1.05 billion offer, backed by Merrill Lynch and ICC, fell just short by its first deadline last Friday, securing acceptances from holders of 76.7 per cent of Green stock. By Wednesday, it had secured the 80 per cent needed to go unconditional, with 86.7 per cent of stock voted in its favour.

Meanwhile, French drinks group Pernod Ricard realised €220 million from the sale of its BWG subsidiary, owner of the Spar franchise in the Republic, to a management team backed by British venture capital group Electra.

Mr Joe Moran's IWP was another company to tap the private-equity sector, selling its household products business to Legal & General Ventures for €134 million.

But the private-equity houses have not been the only buyers.Cork-based retailer Musgraves spent €367 million to acquire Budgens, while Dutch group VNU bought the 63 per cent stake in Golden Pages not already owned by Eircom for €185 million.

As always, CRH remained active on the acquisition trail, spending more than €630 million on acquisitions and development in the first half compared to €450 million the previous year. Its latest acquisition was the €155 million purchase of EHL European building materials group in May.

Unlike the recent past, when telecoms and technology activity dominated the scene, corporate financiers report broad-based activity.

"We have a very decent pipeline, spread across very large deals and smaller deals in the €10 to €50 million range," said Mr Alan Doherty, director at AIB Corporate Finance. "But no one sector is standing out."

Media, however, had a busy first half as the Sunday Business Post was sold to Thomas Crosbie Holdings for €10 million and Scottish Radio Holdings bought the Longford Leader for €9 million.

Other deals in the sector included UTV's purchase of Limerick-based Treaty Radio for €15.7 million.

However, compared to traditional business, activity in the once-dominant tech sector is moribund. Deals are thin on the ground while valuations are still going down, venture capitalists say.

When it comes to second-round funding, times are also tough, with many companies likely to fail and corporate financiers proving increasingly selective about which funding rounds they participate in.

What the rest of the year will bring remains to be seen but there are some concerns that the continued economic slowdown, and fears in the United States of a double-dip recession, could hit corporate finance activity. If shares continue to slide, quoted companies could draw in their horns, proving reluctant to spend as much on acquisitions.

Some market players suggest that there has already been a slowdown in activity.

"Over the last two to three months, there has been a slowdown with deals not progressing for various reasons," says Mr Tom Kirwan of ICC Venture Capital.

He believes this has to do with the sluggishness of the economy generally as purchasers are less keen to buy if they feel a company's figures are falling.

But corporate financiers remain upbeat as they eye, in particular, the large number of secondline stocks whose share prices are languishing, unloved by the market.

"We have a very good pipeline," AIB's Mr Doherty says. "I would be quite optimistic."