MandA-Activity-Northern-Ireland-Q3-2010

Experian Data Reveals a Fall in M&A Activity in Northern Ireland

Dublin, Ireland, 15th October - Experian®, the global information services company, today released its latest mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and equity capital market (ECM - flotation, rights issue and placements) data covering Q3 2010 for Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland highlights
•During Q3 2010 there were 6 deals announced in Northern Ireland, which represents a 45.5% decline when compared to the same period last year, which saw a total of 11 deals announced.
•However, the value of transactions in Northern Ireland during Q3 2010, which amounted to £1.138billion, increased dramatically when compared with Q3 2009 when deals amounting to £3.261million were announced.
•Compared to the previous quarter (Q2 2010) deal volume in Northern Ireland was down by 53.9 per cent falling from 13 transactions during Q2 2010 to 6 transactions in Q3 2010.
•The value of transactions in Northern Ireland has increased dramatically since Q2 2010, primarily due to 1 pending transaction with a value over £1billion. The deal value increased 824.4 per cent from £123.15million in Q2 2010 to £1.138billion in Q3 2010.
•Northern Ireland represented 0.7 per cent of all the UK deals announced in Q3 2010 and 1.91 per cent of the total value.

Compared to the UK picture
•The total number of UK M&A and ECM transactions during Q3 2010 fell by 22.7% compared to the same period last year - from 1,110 deals in Q3 2009 to 859 deals in Q3 2010.
•However, the total value of Q3 2010 deals increased by 45.3% on Q3 2009 - from £41.07billion to £59.67billion.
•Compared to the previous quarter (Q2 2010), the UK saw a 23% decrease in volume, but a 4.8% increase in value - from 1,115 deals worth £56.96billion to 859 deals worth £59.67billion.

Richie Smith, Managing Director at Experian Ireland said: “Although the UK returned to growth in the final quarter of 2009, the level of deal making in the UK since then has yet to reflect this.  Deals tend to slow down during Q3 of any year, so quarter on quarter figures show a seasonal decline.  However, the year on year view reveals that while some regions held up a little better than others, there was still decline in the volume of M&A and ECM activity overall.” 

Deal size analysis for Northern Ireland
Large deals (£100million*)
•Unlike Northern Ireland as a whole, large deals witnessed an improvement in both volume and value of transactions during Q3 2010.
•Volume increased in the third quarter of this year in Northern Ireland by one large transaction, compared to none recorded in the second quarter. There were no other large deals recorded since Q3 2008. It is a similar story for the value of deals, with none recorded since Q3 2008, with £132.5million from one deal, representing an increase of 680.4 per cent compared with Q3 2010.

Mid-market deals (£10-£100million*)
•In the mid-market range, the results for Q3 2010 showed an increase both volumes and values, as no deals were announced in Q3 2009.
•The number of mid market deals decreased by 75 per cent from the previous quarter (Q2 2010), with only 1 mid-market transaction compared with 4 announced in Q2 2010.
•The one transaction announced in Q3 2010 had a total of value of £99million, which represented a slight decrease of 1.7 per cent in comparison to Q2 2010 with £100.8million.

Small deals (under £10m*)
•Activity in the small sector saw fall of 25 per cent in the volume of deals when compared to Q3 2009.  However, deal value increased by 66.2 per cent from £3.26million.
•Compared the previous quarter, the number of deals dropped by 50 per cent in Q3 2010 to 3 deals down from 6 transactions announced in Q2 2010.
•The value of deals also fell, with a drop of 75.8 per cent in Q3 2010 to £5.42million from the Q2 2010 total value of £22.39million.

Table 1: Comparison of regional deal activities Q3 2010

Table 2: Financial advisor deal activities in Northern Ireland Q3 2010

Table 3: Legal advisor deal activities in Northern Ireland Q3 2010

Table 3: Legal advisor deal activities in Northern Ireland Q3 2010

For a more detailed report, please visit: http://www.corpfinworldwide.com/web/MaAndIpo.jsp

ENDS

Contact:

Danielle Span-Dominy

Marketing, PR & Communications

Danielle.span-dominy@experian.ie

About Experian

Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 90 countries. The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score, and protect against identity theft.

Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended 31 March 2010 was $3.9 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; Costa Mesa, California; and São Paulo, Brazil. 

For more information, visit http://www.experianplc.com / www.experian.ie