Dealmaking in Ireland rose considerably in 2014 – with a particular focus on the midmarket. And the pipeline for 2015 is looking very healthy indeed.

Irish M&A activity in 2014 marked a return to volumes and values not seen since before the financial crisis, according to William Fry’s fourth annual review of Irish dealmaking. M&A activity involving Irish targets rose 37% by volume year-on-year (YoY) to 115 deals. In addition, 2014’s deal value of €42.9bn was the highest on Mergermarket record (beginning in 2000).

The significant boost in aggregate deal value was unquestionably driven by Medtronic’s €33.9bn purchase of Covidien in late 2014. However, the sizeable increase in transaction volume, including stronger mid-market activity, marks an encouraging return to pre-crisis levels. This contrasts with our findings in previous editions of the M&A Review: transaction volume struggled to regain ground but value was sustained by a small number of very large transactions. In 2014, Irish M&A activity was strong across all deal size categories and notably the number of transactions with announced values under €100m jumped 81% YoY to 58 in 2014.