Practices

Mergers and Acquisitions

Our expertise:

Our dedicated M&A lawyers are supported by class-leading specialists in tax, employment, environment, competition, intellectual property, information technology, regulation, insurance, commercial property, banking and capital markets. We use this combined expertise to advise on many of the most challenging, high-profile and significant M&A transactions that take place in Ireland.

Key areas:

Our strong client relationships and extensive experience means that we tend to be the adviser of choice for larger and more complex M&A transactions in both the public and private sectors. We advise on both national deals and on international cross-border transactions with a significant Irish dimension.

We consistently provide our clients with creative, market-driven solutions, counselling them on:

• Joint ventures, reorganisations and major takeovers
• Privatisations of public companies
• The structuring of complex acquisitions of widely-held private companies

We also advise buyers, sellers and financial advisers on both public and private mergers and acquisitions and advise private equity buyers on private equity financed deals.

Key highlights include advising:

• WestRock on its proposed $20bn combination with Smurfit Kappa to create Smurfit WestRock, a global leader in sustainable packaging
• Acted for the selling shareholders in relation to the sale of Ardmore Studios and Troy Studios to California-based property group Hackman Capital Partners, its studio operator affiliate, the MBS Group, and private equity firm Square Mile Capital Partners for a reported sale price of US$100 million
• AbbVie Inc. on its recommended acquisition of Allergan plc in a cash and stock transaction valued at $63 billion
• Amdocs on its $180m acquisition of Openet
• AmDocs on its acquisition of Brite:Bill, a Dublin-based billing software company, as part of a deal through which three companies were bought by the Nasdaq-listed software and services provider
• Bain Capital’s acquisition of Diversey Care, the cleaning and chemicals systems division of Sealed Air for c.$3.2 billion, which awaits certain merger clearance approvals
• Cardinal Health, Inc. in relation to the Irish aspects of its $6.1 billion acquisition of Medtronic plc's medical supplies business
• Enterprise Holdings on its acquisition of Dan Dooley Car Rentals
• Exponent Private Equity in relation to its proposed acquisition of DCC’s environmental division for £219 million
• Gaelectric Holdings plc on the sale of its onshore wind farm portfolio to China General Nuclear Power Group
• GE Healthcare in relation to the acquisition of a strategic minority stake in IT company Zenith Technologies
• Greencoat Capital on the funding and acquisition of a wind farm portfolio from Brookfield Renewables
• Horizon Pharma plc on a range of work. During 2016 we advised Horizon on its US$510 million acquisition of Crealta Holdings LLC and its US$800 million acquisition of Raptor Pharmaceuticals
• I Squared Capital, a global infrastructure investment manager, on its acquisition of Irish power company Viridian, in a deal valued at €1 billion
• IAMSA Group, one of Mexico’s largest transportation companies, on its acquisition of a 49 percent stake in the Mexican airline VivaAerobús from Irelandia Aviation. VivaAerobús was established in 2006 as a joint venture between Irelandia Aviation and IAMSA Group. With this acquisition, IAMSA became the sole owner of the low-cost carrier
• Ireland Strategic Investment Fund on its €25 million investment in Aqua Comms DAC
• Ireland Strategic Investment Fund on its €30 million investment in Finance Ireland Limited for a preferred equity interest of 32.4%
• Lakeland Dairies Co-operative Society Limited on its acquisition of the dairy business of Fane Valley Co-operative Society Limited. The transaction is of strategic importance for Lakeland and the Irish milk industry, making Lakeland the third biggest Irish processor of milk in the state
• One51 plc on the disposal of its metals division and the sale of its hazardous waste division in Ireland and the UK to management backed teams
• Panda Waste, Ireland’s largest domestic waste business, on its acquisition of UK waste business New Earth Solutions, including all five of its former waste treatment facilities
• Pfizer Inc on the disposal of Hospira’s Irish Device Business to ICU 
• The Ascott Limited on its first major acquisition in Ireland, the acquisition of the Temple Bar Hotel for approximately €55.1 million from US hotel group Pyramid and real estate private equity group Angelo Gordon & Co