Chambers Global Practice Guides: Corporate M&A 2017

1. Trends

1.1 M&A Market

M&A activity in Ireland in 2015 was at its strongest in terms of deal value since 2008, with pharmaceutical and biotech-led deals accounting for the vast majority of transactions. Whilst overall EU economic performance has remained sluggish, the Irish economy has undoubtedly turned a cor­ner. Ireland's early exit from the bailout in late 2013 instilled confidence internationally in relation to the country's future growth prospects, which has in turn driven growth in M&A activity.

Deal values increased significantly in 2015, which saw a rise of 316% from EUR45 billion in 2014, to EUR189 billion in 2015. These figures include two mega-value transactions, namely Medtronic's EUR33.9 billion acquisition of Covi­dien, the largest European deal of 2014, and Pfizer's (unsuc­cessful) EUR172.6 billion bid for Allergan, announced in November 2015. Excluding these transactions, deal values increased by 41%, from EUR11.4 billion in 2014 to EUR16.1