Merger and acquisition activity involving Irish companies remained at a high level in the third quarter of 2005, with the value of deals rising to €3.82 billion from €1.57 billion in the same period last year, corporate finance house Ion Equity said yesterday.
While the latest edition of Ion's mergers and acquisitions tracker survey suggests that one of the traditionally quiet deal-making periods was busy this year, the third-quarter figures were heavily distorted by Jefferson Smurfit's €2.6 billion merger with Dutch packaging group Kappa.
"When the Kappa deal is excluded, the value of merger and acquisition activity is 22 per cent lower than the corresponding period in 2004 while the actual number of deals fell from 43 to 31," said Ion equity director Joe Devine.
Packaging, media and oil distribution deals featured prominently during the third quarter, he said. "Although high oil prices look like they are here to stay, inflationary pressures are still limited and this augurs well for a continuation of the formidable deal conditions of cheap finance and business confidence which have driven the number of cross-border deals we have seen in recent times."
Mr Devine also highlighted the number of asset-backed deals.
"We have the current takeover situation in Jurys Doyle which is a classic property-backed deal coupled with significant asset disposals. The acquisition of the Irish Shell business in the Republic and Northern Ireland by a consortium led by Ion is another example of a deal with significant asset-backing."
After the Smurfit-Kappa deal, the next largest transactions in the quarter were: Eircom's purchase of Meteor for €420 million; the €139 million acquisition by Johnston Press of the Leinster Leader group and its €96 million acquisition of Local Press; Kerry Group's €183 million acquisition of Noon Group in the UK; Fitzwilliam Capital's €65 million acquisition of German mobile phone provider Getmobile; and Oran Group's €45 million takeover of the Snowie Group in the UK.
In a separate survey published yesterday, Ulster Bank said that construction activity rose for the 25th successive month in September but at a lower rate than in August.
The latest results from the bank's Construction Purchasing Managers' Index survey said the commercial area remained the best-performing sector. While civil engineering activity rose at its sharpest pace in nine months, growth in the housing sector eased to a 25-month low.
