The latest Experian® deal review and advisor league tables have revealed that Belfast law firm Tughans has maintained its top ranking position in Northern Ireland for the number of deals completed in the first nine months of 2014. The report indicates that Tughans was the most active legal advisor in terms of volume for this period participating in twelve out of the 43 local deals, 6 times that of the second-placed law firm.

The report was carried out by the UK and Ireland division of global information services company Experian ® and the Northern Ireland league tables formed part of a detailed review of deal transactions in eleven UK regions and the Republic of Ireland.

Overall Experian ® figures for the UK and Republic of Ireland show that deal volumes were down around 3% for YTD 2014 but the aggregate value of transactions was up by 8.5%. For Northern Ireland specifically deal volumes were down by 27.7% and the overall value of transactions was also reduced by 10.4%.

The report states that 43 transactions were announced in Northern Ireland during the first nine months of 2014 with a deal value of £321.6m. Manufacturing continues to be a key driver of Northern Irish deal activity with just over 25% of all transactions for the year to date.

John-George Willis, Head of Corporate at Tughans said:

Although Experian confirms that the total number of deals in the UK and Ireland has declined slightly compared to last year, the firm’s excellent relationships with companies in the manufacturing sector has meant that our merger and acquisition teams have had a buoyant year to date, which we expect to continue.