Northern Ireland transaction volume drops 39% to lowest level since 2020, as strategic acquisitions and outbound deals retreat
M&A dealmaking in Northern Ireland hits four-year low as strategic acquisitions and outbound activity dry up in early 2025, according to new data from Experian Market IQ
Northern Ireland’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market saw a sharp contraction in the first quarter of 2025, ending a five-quarter run of growth, according to new data from Experian Market IQ.
Just 44 transactions were recorded in Q1, down 39% from 72 deals in the same period last year and representing the lowest quarterly total since 2020, although Experian said this figure is expected to rise on revision.
The downturn was particularly pronounced in the value of deals, which fell by a staggering 79% year on year, reflecting a market dominated by smaller transactions and a lack of significant ‘big-ticket’ strategic acquisitions or investor buyouts.
On a more optimistic note, there were slight upturns in the volume of management buyouts and IBOs, but corporate acquisitions declined by 45% (down to 23 transactions from 42 in the first quarter of 2024) as businesses adopted a more cautious approach to dealmaking in the short term.
Inward investment remained relatively strong, with companies based in Sweden, the US, Ireland and the Cayman Islands completing deals in Northern Ireland during Q1, but outbound deals fell by 80% year on year.
Where deals were made, they skewed towards the lower end of the value spectrum, Experian said, and a lack of activity in the large and mid-market value segments meant that transaction value fell by 79% year on year to one of the lowest quarterly totals on Experian record.
With the type of big-ticket strategic acquisitions and investor buy-outs that characterised Northern Ireland’s M&A market in 2024 conspicuous by their absence so far this year, Belfast tech company Cloudsmith’s £18m Series B funding round was the biggest deal of the first quarter.
Private equity activity in Northern Ireland remained strong, outperforming the wider market despite a small 6% fall in volume terms. Private equity-backed deals accounted for 36% of volume in Q1 (compared to 24% in Q1 2024), and a wide range of investors, both international and domestic, completed investments in Northern Ireland in the first quarter.
Pre-seed and seed stage venture capital specialist Techstart ranked as the most prolific investor with four transactions, closely followed by Qubis on three, and a further 25 different funds with a single deal.
Techstart’s transactions included a £1.2m funding round for Liquid Acquire, a Banbridge-based firm developing AI for M&A advisory firms.
Meanwhile, having returned to prominence in 2024, debt-funded deals were down by around 67% year on year; Danske Bank and Upstream were the leading providers of acquisition finance in Q1.