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ARTICLE · 04 MARCH 2024

Inbound Activity - Irish M&A Review 2023

William Fry LLP
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Around two-thirds of the deals in 2023 involved an overseas bidder (67%), with 225 inbound transactions overall. Those deals were collectively valued at €11.3bn – 96% of the market.

IrelandCorporate/Commercial Law
Andrew McIntyre
Andrew McIntyre
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Around two-thirds of the deals in 2023 involved an overseas bidder (67%), with 225 inbound transactions overall. Those deals were collectively valued at €11.3bn – 96% of the market. Indeed, 19 of the 20 largest deals in Ireland during 2023 were cross-border transactions.

That said, inbound interest in Ireland did ease back slightly in 2023 – the figures were down 12% in value terms, albeit up 2% by volume compared with 2022. That was to be expected, given a global slowdown in M&A activity. But, as Figure 6 shows, the number of bids for Irish companies by international acquirers in 2023 remained very healthy by historical standards. Inbound deal volumes remain well ahead of anything seen before 2021.

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