Leading law firm William Fry is the top Irish law firm for advising on M&A deals in Ireland during the third quarter of 2010 according to a report from Experian Corpfin. The company advised on three deals – Ardagh Glass on the €1.7bn acquisition of Impress Coöperatieve U.A., ESB on its €1bn acquisition of NIE plc, and RSA on its €65m acquisition of 123 Money Limited.  

While the report highlighted that there was a 23% decline in the number of deals announced during Q3 2010 compared to Q2 2010. The total value of transactions announced in Q3 2010 has increased by 4.8% to £59.67bn in comparison with £56.96bn in Q2 2010.  

Commenting on the rankings, Bryan Bourke, Head of Corporate & M&A at William Fry stated: “Whilst this latest set of figures from Experian Corpfin indicate a drop in activity from Q2 to Q3, the value of Irish deals for Q3 is significantly up on the same period in 2009, where €3.81bn worth of deals were announced. This represents growth of 53.5%. William Fry’s M&A team is delighted to top the table.  This ranking reflects the experience we have gained from years of involvement in the most complex and challenging transactions in the Irish market.”