Top deals of 2023: Irish firms party to 400 mergers and acquisitions

By far the largest of the 400 or so M&A deals involving Irish companies during 2023 was the €19 billion merger between Smurfit Kappa and US packaging giant WestRock. CRH, which has since departed the Irish Stock Exchange for a US listing, took the number two spot with its €1.9 billion acquisition of Texas-based Martin Marietta Materials. The construction materials giant was also responsible for the fifth-largest deal of the year through its €1.2 billion takeover of Australian firm Adbri.

Coming in at number three on the list was the acquisition of Italian bad loan specialist Prelios from US hedge fund Davidson Kempner Capital Management by Dublin-based fintech Ion Group for €1.35 billion. The number four spot also involved an Italian firm, in the form of pharmaceutical company Chiesi, which purchased Amryt Pharma for €1.3 billion.

From an advisory perspective, EY was active in a large number of significant deals during the year.

“EY advised multiple entrepreneurs, shareholders and businesses on transactions throughout the year,” says Fergal McAleavey, a corporate finance partner with the firm. “We acted as the exclusive lead corporate finance adviser to PFH Technology Group on its sale to Ricoh Europe, while also providing integrated vendor due diligence, financial modelling and tax structuring advice.

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“EY’s corporate finance team ran a robust process, introducing multiple strategic and private equity potential acquirers to PFH. We leveraged our global reach and network to source the ultimate acquirer, a Japanese-listed company, where our analysis indicated a clear strategic fit and commercial alignment.”

The firm also acted as joint sell side M&A lead adviser to Cubic Telecom on the investment by SoftBank. It acted as lead corporate finance adviser to Nostra Technology on its investment from Phoenix Equity Partners, as well as for Celtic Linen on its sale to Johnson Service Group plc. In addition, EY acted as sell side due diligence adviser to Premier Lotteries Ireland on its sale to Francaise de Jeux in a deal worth €350 million.

Deloitte M&A advisory partner Anya Cummins points to a number of significant technology deals during the year. These include the sale by Terry Clune of global payroll provider Immedis to US multinational UKG in a deal said to be worth upwards of €575 million, the aforementioned acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in Cubic Telecom by Japanese telecommunications and IT operator SoftBank for €473 million, and the sale of a majority stake in Taoglas to US private equity fund Graham Partners in a deal which valued the business at around $200 million (€186 million).

The €65 million, series-A follow-on funding for Cork-based AI platform developer Everseen was one of the key transactions of the year for Focus Capital Partners, says Alan Kelly, managing director (M&A) with the firm.

“My colleagues in the Focus Capital team have worked very closely with the Everseen team over the years in raising multiple rounds of equity and so it was great to see a strong result for the shareholders and the Everseen team. On the retail side we were active on a number of deals, including advising the shareholders of McCauley Pharmacy Group in their exit to Uniphar.”

BDO was active in a large number of deals in the mid-market space, according to corporate finance partner Katharine Byrne.

“We advised NRG Panel Ireland on investment by Melior Equity Partners,” she says. “We also advised EMR Integrated Solutions on the investment by Irish private equity Erisbeg.”

Another significant deal where BDO was involved was the Kurma Partners on investment in Shorla Oncology. Shorla raised $35 million in a series-B funding round led by Kurma Partners’ Growth Opportunities Fund, with participation from existing investors.

Globally, the two largest M&A transactions in 2023 were both energy deals announced in October – Exxon’s $59.5 billion proposed acquisition of Pioneer and Chevron’s $53 billion proposed acquisition of Hess, says PwC corporate finance partner James McMenamin.

“The largest tech deal of 2023 was Cisco’s $28 billion proposed acquisition of Splunk, which was announced in September 2023,” he adds.

“Although January often spells a quieter month for deal announcements, 2024 has already seen several megadeals being announced, including Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s proposed $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, Blackrock’s $12.5 billion proposed acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners, Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern’s proposed $7.4 billion merger, and DigitalBridge and Silver Lake’s $6.4 billion proposed equity investment in Vantage Data Centers.”

These transactions, McMenamin says, highlight a greater willingness among dealmakers to do larger, more complex deals.

“At times, that means finding creative solutions to address current challenges, such as financing and regulatory oversight, to grow and create value and sustained outcomes,” he adds.