The value of mergers and acquisitions deals involving Irish companies fell sharply last year, according to William Fry.
That is despite a rise in the number of deals compared to 2024.
William Fry's annual review of M&A activity in Ireland identified 524 deals in 2025 - up 3% year-on-year.
However their combined value was down 35% compared to 2024, at €19.5 billion.
It said that was largely due to the lack of any mega-deals last year - with the 2024 data skewed somewhat by Apollo Global Management's acquisition of a 49% stake in Intel's Irish Fab 34 for €10.1 billion.
"But when you compare the data over the last 10 years, the Irish deal value numbers for 2025 were an increase on seven of those last 10 years," said Andrew McIntyre, head of corporate and M&A at William Fry.
The report shows that the energy, mining and utilities sector was the largest contributor to the 2025 in terms of value, representing €4.8 billion of deal-making.
"The biggest transaction of the year was the acquisition by French investor Ardian of the Irish utilities group Energia for a reported €2.5 billion, so that really boosted the sector," said Mr McIntyre.
He said that there was also a lot of activity in the pharmaceutical sector, with Alkermes' €2.2 billion acquisition of Avadel Pharmaceuticals leading the deal-making there.
Uncertainty in the US and global economy did have some impact on M&A activity here during 2025, but there was a strong rebound towards the end of the year.
Mr McIntyre said US investors were still very active in the Irish market - with US and UK investors making up two-thirds of deals last year.
However he said there was an expectation that attempts to strengthen the euro zone economy - and a desire for businesses here to shift focus away from the US economy - would lead to more European-based deals this year.
"I think that that is already happening in terms of activity within Europe," he said. "We saw in Ireland, 13 transactions were undertaken by French businesses - there were also Swiss acquisitions".
"So there's a lot more deals still happening within Europe itself and I think investors and buyers are conscious of that and want to make sure that they find value within Europe as well," he said.
He said it was expected to be another busy year for M&A activity in the energy sector, with hopes of a pick-up in activity in life sciences and technology as well.
