Irish M&A ‘resilient’ in 2025 – William Fry
Figures from law firm William Fry show that there was a 3% increase in the number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Ireland last year – but the value of those deals fell by 35%.
The firm’s report shows that there were 524 deals reported last year, worth €19.5 billion.
William Fry attributed the drop in value to an absence of the ‘megadeals’ seen in previous years.
It added that the 2025 fall was largely explained by the acquisition in 2024 by Apollo Global Management of a 49% stake in Intel Corp’s Fab 34 facility for €10.1 billion.
Trade tensions
“Irish M&A showed clear resilience throughout 2025 despite a challenging global backdrop,” said Andrew McIntyre (head of corporate and M&A).
“Even as global M&A activity fell to its lowest level in two decades amid trade tensions and geopolitical conflict, inbound investment into Ireland remained robust,” he added.
McIntyre described the outlook for 2026 as “positive”, despite uncertainty about geopolitics and US trade policy, citing lower interest rates, strong relative economic growth in Ireland, and sectoral strengths in areas such as energy, pharma and biotech, and advanced technologies.
Mid-market deals dominate
A breakdown of the 2025 figures shows that M&A activity was dominated by the mid-market (deals worth €5 million to €250 million).
There were 12 deals valued above €250 million – down from 17 in 2024. Of these, nine exceeded €500 million, although the value of several transactions was undisclosed. These large deals were spread across six different sectors.
The largest transaction of the year was Ardian’s €2.5 billion acquisition of Energia Group, which supplies approximately 17% of Ireland’s electricity.
The second-largest deal was the acquisition of pharmaceutical company Avadel by Irish biopharma group Alkermes, valued at up to €2.2 billion.
The third-largest transaction took place in financial services, with Dubai Aerospace Enterprise agreeing to acquire Nordic Aviation Capital for €1.9 billion.
Energy deals
Energy, mining, and utilities was the largest sector by value in 2025, accounting for €4.84 billion worth of transactions and a 25% share of total deal value.
Alongside the Energia acquisition, the sector was boosted by the €1 billion purchase of the 500MW Greenlink Interconnector by UK-based Equitix and Norway’s Statkraft.
Five of the top ten deals took place in the pharma, medical, and biotech sector, which was the second-largest by value.
French buyers active
There were 309 deals targeted at Irish businesses last year, worth €14 billion. This represented a 9% increase in deal numbers, but a 47% decline in total value.
William Fry said this was because international investors focused increasingly on mid-market opportunities, rather than large transformational acquisitions.
British and US-based buyers remained the most active by volume, accounting for over two-thirds of inbound transactions.
France, however, emerged as the leading country by value, with French buyers completing ten deals in Ireland – including Ardian’s acquisition of Energia Group.
The report shows that private equity (PE) remained a key factor in Irish M&A activity in 2025, with William Fry describing the first half of the year as the strongest period for Irish PE investment since the pandemic.
While activity moderated in the second half following the market impact of US tariff announcements, PE deal volumes still rose from 92 deals in 2024 to 100 in 2025 – a 9% increase.