Brexit uncertainty is Ireland's gain

Speaking to Siobhán Maguire at the Sunday Business Post, Katharine Byrne, Partner provides an insight into Brexit uncertainty and its effect on the Irish merger market. 

"We've had a much better and stronger performance or a more robust performance than Britain has had" said Katharine Byrne, a partner at BDO, a leading accountancy firm. 

"While we would always have had a significant number of cross-border activities, you would have found that some of the large US investors, for example, would prioritise Britain over Ireland, but now we are seeing Ireland getting the lion's share of certain types of deals". 

Katharine also addresses the expectation that the food and drink industry in Ireland would struggle under Brexit uncertainty, stating that while activity has slowed, the sector has adopted a far more strategic approach to business that includes a greater understanding of their supply chin and Brexit-proofing themselves for all eventualities. 

"Not withstanding all of the that, they are still attracting international interest," she said. "Last year you had major acquisitions in the sector like that of Gallaghers, a gulten-free Donegal bakery business.   There wer also transactions within the dairy sector where there's been a bit of consolidation and there's still a lot of interest in the fishing and meat processing sectors, where international players are effectively using Ireland as a platform to expand into Europe".