Q4 2025 | Mergers and Acquisitions Review

2025 was a good year for Irish M&A, the Irish M&A Market Review from Davy Corporate Finance reveals, with 440 transactions in 2025, an increase from 424 of c.3.8% from 2024.

This growth comes despite historically active sectors such as Technology & Telecoms, Industrials and Business Services all experiencing reduced M&A activity versus 2024, although by deal count Technology & Telecoms still recorded the highest volume of transactions. These declines were offset by significant increases in both Professional & Technical and Financial Services, driven in part, by consolidation of fragmented segments within these sectors. 

Irish deal volume growth bucks the international trend

This growth comes despite historically active sectors such as Technology & Telecoms, Industrials and Business Services all experiencing reduced M&A activity versus 2024, although by deal count Technology & Telecoms still recorded the highest volume of transactions. These declines were offset by significant increases in both Professional & Technical and Financial Services, driven in part, by consolidation of fragmented segments within these sectors. 

Irish deal volume growth bucks the international trend

Ireland bucked the international trend in 2025, as global deal volumes fell over the same period. However, global deal value was higher (20.0%) year-on-year versus in Ireland with global M&A deal value being driven by a surge in megadeals (transactions exceeding $10bn), which reached a record 70 deals during the year.

Irish deal value was also supported by a number of sizable transactions, including those exceeding €1 billion, despite a lower proportion of deals disclosing their value in 2025 (c.13.6%) compared with 2024 (c.16%). 

Overview of Irish transaction activity

The 440 deals recorded in Ireland represents another year in line with the average annual volume of c.400+ deals. In fact, only 2022 (446) produced more deals in a 12-month period over the historic period analysed (since 2006).

Key drivers of this activity included:

• Privately owned (Family or Entrepreneur) companies now increasingly comfortable with using M&A as a growth strategy;
• Continued attractiveness of Irish companies to overseas buyers, including due to the attractiveness of the Irish market and the overseas expansion many of these companies have achieved to date as well as certain key capabilities and competencies in areas such as Data Centres, Specialist Engineering, Medtech and Technology;
• Private Equity, both through new platform acquisitions, or indirectly through supporting investee companies to scale through acquisition, a trend which has continued at a rapid pace since 2023; and
• Continued consolidation of certain sectors, including Professional Services (particularly in Accounting & Assurance and Healthcare (Dentistry and GP Medical Practices)) as well Financial Services (capital light segments of the sector including Insurance Broking, Wealth Management and Financial Advisory) and Logistics.

In-market Irish deals accounted for the largest share by type (c.28.6%), driven by continued consolidation within accounting and financial services. Arachas and HLB completed multiple acquisitions during the period, while previously active players such as Ecko, Xeinadin, and Writech also executed deals as they have gone about consolidating fragmented sectors of the Irish market.

2026 deal outlook

Looking ahead to 2026 we believe that many of the drivers and themes that generated deal activity in 2025 will persist into 2026 overlaid yet again with a sound Ireland macro backdrop which demonstrated its ability to manage economic policy uncertainty and geopolitical volatility throughout 2025. In particular this will be supportive of:

1. International Buyers of Irish businesses, and

2. In-Market Transactions.

However, for those Irish companies with overseas operations a strong home market will, all things equal, be a net positive for overseas expansion and so it will indirectly support overseas acquisitions by Irish companies also.

European growth and AI among tailwinds poised to support growth in 2026

2026 and subsequent years should see activity around those companies which are levered to emerging tailwinds, such as Ireland’s national development plan, Germany’s significant fiscal investment plans and European wide policies to support indigenous European companies to help ensure Europe’s own capabilities and independence in key strategic sectors and value chains (this might increase the number of In-Market transactions and change the mix and profile of international buyers of Irish, and other European, businesses over the medium term). 

In Ireland sectors such as Professional & Technical and Logistics will continue to be active through further consolidation. In Healthcare, an ‘always on’ M&A sector, segments of primary care and healthcare goods distribution will see further activity, as will segments of Financial Services including the emergence of another attempted round of European Banking Consolidation (which will impact in Ireland).

As with most other countries and regions Technology & Telecoms will once again be the most active sector – AI, SaaS and Cybersecurity will not surprisingly all be active and there were deals in all three of these involving Irish companies in 2025. So, Ireland’s M&A market should remain positive in 2026 for the aforementioned reasons.
 

2026 Outlook: Strong balance sheets and supportive macro-environment 

Strategic Irish buyers are well capitalised with strong balance sheets and private equity activity will be supported by Irish sponsors deploying new funds whilst continuing to exit investments from earlier vintage funds and as always overseas private equity and their portfolio companies will be active in the Irish market.

In a global context, M&A stakeholders were confident going into 2025 that there would be considerable growth in activity, but this really only occurred in the latter half of 2025 and in reality, was driven by large-cap and mega-cap deals, of which there were several of the latter.

Entering 2026 the macro environment is, as with 2025, supportive - inflation has moderated, reductions in interest rates have taken place and valuations are strong (although in many sectors back from 2021 levels). How this compares to the complexities (both positive and negative) of policy and geopolitical concerns will greatly influence deal volumes at a global (more so than Irish) level in 2026.

Other factors supportive of activity in 2026 include:

1. Potential US rate reductions;

2. A more accommodating US anti-trust policy;

3. Potential for reduced regulation in Europe and a push to improve competitiveness;

4. Private Equity’s significant unspent funding and pressure from their investors to accelerate exits; and

5. AI and the very significant levels of capital it is attracting. This will ensure that AI will continue to reshape corporate strategy and M&A as well as underpinning the demand and revenue growth of AI itself, but will also support positive second order effects on the many product and service providers into the AI value chains, making them more attractive to M&A or indeed supporting their own acquisition ambitions and we have certainly seen this in the Irish market.