5/1/2013: Irish Market M&A and ECM activities in 2012

Per Experian release (from yesterday) covering the latest M&A (mergers and acquisitions) and ECM (flotations, rights issues and placements) data for the Republic of Ireland, 2012:

• During 2012, there were 294 transactions announced in Ireland, down on 2011 total of 307 deals (-4.2% y/y). However, the value of transactions rose 1% from €28.343bn in 2011 to €28.596bn in 2012.
• The most active sector for M&A in 2012 were: Materials & Equipment Wholesale (just over 20% of all transactions), Professional & Business Activities (15.5%) and Computer Activities (15.2%). The largest value deals were in Banking, Credit & Leasing (€10.5bn), and Electrical Manufacturing (€10.2bn).
• Ireland represented ca 3% of the total volume of all European transactions and 3.9% of their total value.
• There were 29 large deals announced in 2012 in the over-€120mln category, "up by 20.8% from the 24 transactions recorded for 2011". "…The aggregate value of large deals was up by 1.38%, from €25.25bn in 2011 to €25.597bn in 2012. The largest deal completed in the Republic of Ireland in the year was the acquisition by US industrial engineering group Eaton Corp of Dublin-based Cooper Industries Plc, for €8.971bn."
• Deal volume in the mid-market (€12-€120mn) segment in 2012 "stayed level on 64 deals. Values declined to €2.237bn in 2012 – representing a fall of 3.8% over deals worth €2.325bn 2011. The largest completed deal in the mid-market saw real estate investor Kennedy Wilson acquire the Irish Headquarters of State Street Corp for €106.9mln in November; this was the US firm’s second large acquisition of the year in the Irish property sector, it having acquired the Alliance Building, a 210-unit residential property in Dublin, for €40mln in June."
• "Deal flow in the small market (under €12m) value segment fell from 47 transactions in 2011 to 44 transactions for 2012, a decline of 6.4%. However the aggregate value of deals saw a 9.2% increase; there were €232mln worth of small transactions in 2012, up from €212mln in 2011. The largest completed deal in 2012 saw diversified building materials group CRH Plc acquire Anchor Bay Construction Products Ltd, an English company that provides reinforcement, formwork and waterproofing products to the construction industry, for €11.97mln. This was one of fourteen acquisitions made by the acquisitive Irish company in 2012".