A&L Goodbody (ALG) has retained its position as the law firm involved in the biggest number of Irish mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2022.

Figures from international intelligence publication Mergermarket show that ALG was involved in 43 M&A deals, worth just over US $9 billion, last year.

Matheson (41 transactions) and Arthur Cox (39) came in second and third, respectively.

ALG, however, lost its 2021 top spot in terms of the value of M&A deals last year.

While Arthur Cox was involved in slightly fewer deals, the value of those transactions was just under $14.4 billion, with ALG second and Clifford Chance third.

Slowdown in activity

In 2022, ALG acted for Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group on its €6.4 billion acquisition of aviation-finance group Goshawk Management Ltd, for Hibernia REIT on its acquisition by Brookfield Asset Management, and for Ulster Bank on the acquisition of its tracker mortgage book by AIB.

Richard Grey (head of M&A at ALG, pictured) said that M&A activity in Ireland had slowed last year, after a bumper 2021.

“This is mainly due to uncertain global market conditions, leading to some investors slowing portfolio growth, together with the increased cost of debt impacting on the level of highly leveraged transactions,” he stated.

Grey added, however, that there were still “healthy levels” of private-equity activity in 2022.