Tughans leads the field in the volume of corporate deals struck in Northern Ireland during the first half of 2020, the latest report from Experian Market IQ shows.
In a fast-changing financial landscape private equity funded half of all Northern Ireland transactions compared with just 22% of deals during the same period last year with investment favouring food and drink, tech and healthcare sectors.
Just 58 transactions were recorded so far this year, a 65% decline on the 165 during the corresponding period last year.
Tughans remains the front runner having been involved in 19 of those transactions, seven of which made it into the top ten list for Northern Ireland, including advising BGF on its £10m investment into Decora Blinds.
Commenting on the report, Patrick Brown, Managing Partner, said:
“While deal volumes are down, the report illustrates that there is still resilience in the market, notably in the food and drink, tech and healthcare sectors, in which Tughans has particular expertise.
“I am very pleased that we maintain our position as most active advisor in Northern Ireland and continue to support our clients as we move towards the next phase of economic recovery.”
James Donnelly, Head of Corporate at Tughans comments on current market trends:
“2019 and 2020 will clearly be different years in terms of corporate activity. The Experian Report shows that the Northern Ireland deal flow has obviously slowed but we would expect the number of funding transactions to increase throughout the remainder of 2020 and we are confident that some of the stalled M & A transactions will come back on track later in the year.”
