Private Equity - M&A Half Year Review 2024

Ireland continues to be an attractive draw for private equity with a number of material transactions taking place so far in 2024, but firms are more deliberate in their dealmaking. In line with the global trend, buyouts are down on previous years, particularly by volume.

There were 35 private equity-driven deals during the first half of 2024, down 19% on the same period last year. That decline was similar to the decrease in trade buyer deal volume.

In part, this reflects the economic backdrop, with higher interest rates increasing the cost of finance and dampening private equity investors' appetite for dealmaking. An ongoing mismatch between sellers' expectations on valuation and buyers' value estimations continues. Higher financing costs contribute to private equity investors not being willing to pay the kind of prices offered in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, with sellers taking time to adjust to reducing valuations.