Record year for ALG as Corporate team continues to dominate local M&A Market

Corporate law firm A&L Goodbody (ALG) continued to dominate the M&A market in Northern Ireland by the total value of deals it advised on in 2024.

The Corporate and M&A department in Belfast experienced its busiest year on record, advising on over £2bn of disclosable transactions across the year.  The 30-strong department, led by eight partners, is the largest team in the local market.

Official rankings published today by global information services company Experian show that 346 transactions were recorded last year in Northern Ireland (up 44% from 240 deals in 2023) in what it described as a “startling” year for dealmaking.   A notable increase in private equity-backed deals was seen, increasing from 53 in 2023 to 80 in 2024, with the year also characterised by a “resurgence in higher value M&A”.

ALG played a key role in many of the largest and most complex deals, including advising on the three highest value deals in the market in 2024:

• Advising a consortium made up of Power Assets Holdings, CK Infrastructure Holdings and CK Asset Holdings on its acquisition of Phoenix Energy – the third biggest transaction in Northern Ireland’s corporate history, described by Experian as 2024’s “standout transaction”.

• Advising Kingsbridge Healthcare Group on its acquisition by Exponent Private Equity – noted by Experian to be one of Northern Ireland’s biggest ever buy-outs.

• Advising Çimsa on its acquisition of building materials and packaging group Mannok Holdings.

Having consistently ranked as the lead adviser by total value of deals over the past decade, ALG continues to strengthen its reputation as the go-to corporate law firm in Northern Ireland, according to Head of Corporate David Rowan.

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“ALG’s track record in this space – both in terms of combined value of deals, and of our role in almost all of the largest and most complex transactions over the past 10 years – is unparalleled in Northern Ireland,” he said.

“We owe our sustained growth and success to the exceptional calibre of our Corporate team, which is the largest in the local market and continues to offer the standout expertise and commercial focus for which ALG is so renowned.”

ALG’s Corporate team in Northern Ireland is led by partners Peter Stafford, Mark Thompson, David Rowan, Mark Stockdale, Sarah Dugdale, Steve Duggan, Catherine Irvine and John Palmer. 

Over the past 12 months, the firm invested in growing the team by a further five, including three additional partners and the appointment of a specialist corporate tax lawyer – a first for Northern Ireland, placing ALG in a unique position in the legal implementation of tax advice.

ALG’s wider team in Northern Ireland also continues to grow, with more than 140 lawyers and business services professionals based at its offices in Belfast city centre.

Read Sync NI's free online Big Data Belfast autumn magazine here.