A&L Goodbody Tops Rankings for M&A Deal Value

Corporate law firm A&L Goodbody has been ranked as the leading legal advisor on deals transacted in Northern Ireland in the first nine months of 2015.

In a report published recently by global information services company Experian, A&L Goodbody's Belfast office is listed as top legal advisor on deals in Northern Ireland, acting on over £1.2bn of transactions in the first nine months of the year.

Commenting on the report, corporate partner Peter Stafford said: “We are delighted to be named by Experian as the most active legal advisor once again – testament to the hard work and expertise of our team of M&A lawyers, led by corporate partners Mark Thompson, Alastair Keith, Ivan Waide and myself. In the first nine months of 2015 we have been struck by the variety of deals in Northern Ireland, in terms of value and across industry sectors. We saw a number of major international transactions such as the acquisition of the Old Bushmills Distillery Company by Mexican tequila giant Jose Cuervo and the disposal by United Drug Group Healthcare of its pharmaceutical distribution division."

“We also saw an increase in the level of significant local deals, acting for Ballyrashane Creamery on its merger with Town of Monaghan Co-Op to create LacPatrick; 3fivetwo Group Ltd on the acquisition of St Joseph’s Hospital, Sligo; and for SS Nomadic Trust on the transfer of the SS Nomadic to the Titanic Foundation.

“It was encouraging to note increased activity emerging in a wider variety of sectors, aside from the high level of transactions in the energy & renewables, healthcare and food/agri sectors that we would expect.   

“We are coming into the last few months of 2015 with a strong pipeline of deal activity and I look forward to A&L Goodbody advising on many more significant international and local transactions in the run up to year end.”