We have comprehensive knowledge covering public and private deals, recommended or hostile takeovers, joint ventures, strategic alliances, spin-offs, tender offers, distressed sales, public to private transactions, management buy-outs, management buy-ins and transactions involving foreign purchasers.

Our Mergers and Acquisitions Unit brings added value because:

  • We understand that the client is the most important party in the transaction and that an acquisition or sale of a company can be a huge event in a client’s life.
  • We invest time to understand our client’s business and strategic objectives so that we can assist them in achieving those objectives.
  • Our partners are involved extensively throughout the entire process and clients have access at all times to the partner(s) involved.
  • We operate on a commercial basis, keep legal issues in perspective and are in tune with the objectives of the client.

We have been particularly prominent over recent years in the following areas:

  • Technology, digital media and gaming
  • Broadcasting and media
  • Energy including oil, gas and waste management
  • Infrastructure
  • Food and drink
  • Pharmaceuticals and medical devices
  • Healthcare
  • Retail
  • Financial services
  • Professional services
  • Engineering services
  • Print paper and packaging

Experience

  • We acted for Terry Keaney in the sale of Keaney Insurance Brokers Limited to Arthur J Gallagher Holdings Limited.
  • We acted for ORS, an Erisbeg portfolio company, on its acquisition of John Spain Associates Limited.
  • We acted for Causeway Capital Partners and other vendors in the sale, of our valued client Celtic Linen, to Johnson Service Group plc for a consideration of €31.5 million.
  • We acted as Irish counsel for Kester Capital, a UK private equity specialist, in the investment in MAP Patient Access, a leader in market access consulting services to the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.
  • We acted as Irish counsel for the Vendors of Frankie Health, a provider of personalised mental health platforms for employers and their teams, in its sale to Unmind.
  • We acted for the Erisbeg Group in several acquisitions to include: Vyrga Holdings Limited in the acquisition of Eolas Recruitment Limited, Forgo Limited in the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of O'Reilly, Stuart and Associates Limited, and BP Multipage Limited in its acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Regional Electric Maintenance Limited.
  • We acted for the sale of Harmony Timber Solutions Limited and GMP Developments Limited to Glenveagh Contracting Limited.
  • We acted for the Vendors of Walco Foods, a leading Irish trader of animal fats and proteins, on the sale of the company to Neste (NESTE, Nasdaq Helsinki).
  • We acted for Bill Walsh in the sale of Aspire Technology Unlimited Company to NEC Corporation.
  • We acted for the Vendors of ProAdjust, the specialist provider of loss adjusting and claims management services to the insurance market in Ireland, on the sale of the company to Davies. 
  • We acted for the shareholders of Design Partners Limited in the sale of the Irish company to global consultancy firm PA Consulting.
  • We acted as Irish counsel in support of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough for their long-standing client MiCo Ltd on the Irish aspects of their agreement to make a strategic investment in and partnership with Trinity Biotech Plc.
  • We acted for Aleph Group, Inc, a leading global enabler of digital advertising, on the Irish aspects of its acquisition of Ad Dynamo, an exclusive partner to Twitter, Snapchat, Spotify and Verizon Media in the wider African region.
  • We acted for Radius Payment Solutions Limited in its recent acquisition of a majority stake in Irish telecommunications services provider, the Telcom Group Est 1999 DAC.
  • We acted for the owners on the sale of Automatic Plastics Limited to Comar.
  • We advised the majority shareholders of The Root System Holding Company Limited t/a Strong Roots on a $55 million investment by McCain Foods to take a minority stake in the business.
  • We acted for long standing clients Sure Valley Ventures and Kernel Capital in connection with their participation in the seed investment round of Nova Leah.
  • We acted for Calibre Scientific in the acquisition of Carl Stuart Group, an Irish distributor of laboratory and analytical consumables and equipment with headquarters in Dublin.
  • We acted for Calibre Scientific in the acquisition of, Shannon based, Reagecon Diagnostics Limited.
  • We acted for Gowan Group in the acquisition of FCA Ireland.
  • We acted for the sellers in the sale of the Red C Group to the Business Post Group.
  • We advised the sellers of StoryToys on its sale to Team17.
  • We acted on the Irish aspects of the acquisition of Club Car by Platinum Equity from Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:IR).
  • We acted for Denis O’Brien in the sale of longstanding client, Communicorp Group Limited to Bauer Media Group.
  • We acted as Irish Counsel for SkySpecs, Inc. (a Michigan based digital asset management for wind energy) in its acquisition of New Energy Financial Limited t/a Fincovi.
  • We acted as legal advisors to Mr. Seamus Farrell in connection with the recent investment in Skellville Enterprises Limited (trading as SF Engineering) by Alcuin Capital Partners.
  • We acted for Tenzing Private Equity LLP in its investment in MetaCompliance Ireland Limited, being a subsidiary of the UK target, MetaCompliance Limited.
  • We acted as legal advisors to a team of existing executives lead by Alan O’Keane in their buy-out of the existing shareholders of Dortek Limited and Dortek Research & Development Limited (“Dortek”).
  • We acted for the shareholders of Nualtra Limited, on its sale to Ajinomoto Cambrooke, Inc., part of the Ajinomoto group.
  • We acted for agritech company MagGrow in its Series A Investment Round.
  • We acted for Reach Plc, the largest commercial national and regional news publisher in the UK, on the purchase from INM of the remaining 50% stake in Independent Star Limited, which publishes the Irish Daily Star.
  • We acted on the sale of its long-standing client O’Driscoll O’Neil insurance broker, to The Ardonagh Group, the principal diversified and independent broking and underwriting group in the UK.
  • We acted for Deloitte on its acquisition of leading Irish cloud consultancy and managed services provider DNM.
  • We acted for Brink’s ATM Services Limited, an Irish subsidiary of the Nasdaq listed The Brink’s Company in the acquisition from Allied Irish Banks plc (“AIB”) of AIB’s non-branch ATM network.
  • We acted as project lead and advised on the Irish aspects of the group reorganisation of the Fitch Ratings EU group of companies (including the United Kingdom), which included applications to the Irish High Court in respect of five cross-border mergers of Fitch Rating’s EU subsidiaries into Fitch Ratings Ireland Limited.
  • We advised the majority of the selling shareholders / Xcelerator Machine Translations Limited in relation to the disposal of over 99% of the issued share capital in Xcelerator Machine Translations Limited to Keywords International Limited.
  • We acted for Indigo Telecom Group Limited on its acquisition of Foursite Design Consultants Limited (t/a 4site), a global provider of telecom and data centre network support services.
  • We assisted on the Irish aspects of the purchase by Advanced of Irish health software company CareWorks.
  • We advised ECI on the Irish law aspects of their investment in KB Associates.
  • We advised the shareholders of Eastland Engineering Supply Co. Limited (EES) in relation to an investment into the business by MML Growth Capital Partners Ireland.
  • We acted for Polypipe Group plc, a leading provider of sustainable water and climate management solutions for the built environment, in the Irish aspects of the acquisition of the Alderburgh Group of companies.
  • We advised InfraVia Capital Partners on the sale of Cignal to IBEX 35 listed Cellnex Telecom Group. We also advised Cignal Infrastructure on the significant expansion of its existing portfolio through the acquisition of Cellcom Ireland Limited.
  • We acted for Gowan Group Limited in the Acquisition of Opel Automobile Ireland Limited.
  • We advised Dussmann Group on its acquisition of the STS Group.
  • We acted for Designer Group in relation to a joint venture with Sisk and the purchase of Lenmac Mechanical Services Limited.
  • We advised CareChoice on the acquisition of the Knightsbridge Care Village & Primary Care Centre, the Ardmore Lodge Care Centre and the Marlay Nursing Home.
  • We have acted for Communicorp Group Limited in various transactions over the years to include acquisitions and disposals in Ireland, the UK, Finland, Hungary, Estonia, Czech Republic, Jordan, Latvia and Bulgaria.
  • We acted for the Reihill family in the sale of Top Oil to Irving Oil, a Canadian company.
  • We advised Ndevor Systems Limited (Phorest) on an investment from US Investment firm Susquehanna Growth Equity.
  • We advised InfraVia Capital Partners on the acquisition of Mater Private Group (the largest acute healthcare group in Ireland) and Carechoice (the second largest private owner and operator of nursing homes in Ireland).
  • We acted for Topaz Investments Limited in the sale of Topaz Energy Group Limited, Resource Property Investment Fund plc and Esso Ireland Limited to Alimentation Couche-Tard. We also acted in the purchase by Topaz of Esso Ireland Limited.
Head of Practice
Photo of Jennifer McGuire

Jennifer McGuire

Partner
Mergers and Acquisitions

jmcguire@lkshields.ie
+ 353 1 638 5851


More from our Mergers and Acquisitions team

Awards &
Recommendations

Recommended for Corporate/M&A.

Chambers Global 2024
Awards &
Recommendations

Recommended for International Capabilities.

Chambers Global 2024
Awards &
Recommendations

Excellent engagement and response times and real commitment to understanding our drivers – very commercial advice; the team are a pleasure to deal with.’ Recommended for Commercial, Corporate and M&A.

Legal 500 2023
Awards &
Recommendations

"The team has an excellent ability to plan and navigate complexity in transactions." Recommended for Corporate/M&A.

Chambers Europe 2023
Awards &
Recommendations

"LK Shields' service was excellent, the team was responsive and provided excellent support for a relatively complicated cross-border sale." Recommended for Corporate/M&A.

Chambers Global 2023
Awards &
Recommendations

'Passionate about client service.’ Recommended for Commercial, Corporate and M&A.

Legal 500 2022
Awards &
Recommendations

"The service was excellent, very comprehensive and thorough."

Chambers Europe 2022
Awards &
Recommendations

“The lawyers were very proactive, very hard-working and brilliant at the strategy."

Chambers Europe 2022
Awards &
Recommendations

"The approachability of the team is second to none and they are incredibly easy to work with. We have instructed LK Shields across many disciplines and have found their advice to be focused, commercially practical and useful. They have worked to get to know us well as a client and to understand what we need from them and consistently deliver us a high-quality service." Recommended for Commercial, Corporate and M&A.

Legal 500 2021
Awards &
Recommendations

Recommended for Corporate/M&A.

Chambers Europe 2021
Awards &
Recommendations

"They were excellent, proactive and commercial in their advice." Recommended for Corporate/M&A.

Chambers Global 2021
Awards &
Recommendations

Ranked among Ireland’s Top 10 Law Firms in the Mergermarket 2019 league table.

Mergermarket 2020
Awards &
Recommendations

Recommended for Commercial, Corporate and M&A.

Legal 500 2020
Awards &
Recommendations

Recommended for Corporate/M&A. Clients say "They provide very good client service and are particularly good at explaining the legal concepts." Recommended for Corporate/M&A.

Chambers Europe 2020
Awards &
Recommendations

Ranked among Ireland’s Top 10 Law Firms in the Mergermarket 2019 league table.

Mergermarket 2019
Awards &
Recommendations

Recommended for Corporate/M&A.

Chambers Global 2019
Awards &
Recommendations

"We couldn't speak more highly of them. The quality of work is outstanding. They are reactive, work within deadlines, have outstanding professionalism and add true value to our business." Recommended for M&A

IFLR1000 2019
Awards &
Recommendations

Recommended for Corporate/M&A.

Chambers Global 2018
Awards &
Recommendations

Recommended for Corporate/M&A.

Chambers Global 2017
Awards &
Recommendations

They can handle transactions of any size and complexity, are pragmatic and commercial and try to understand the businesses they are advising”.

IFLR1000 2017
Awards &
Recommendations

Recommended for Corporate/M&A.

Chambers Europe 2016
Awards &
Recommendations

LK Shields Solicitors is noted for its ‘very practical approach to complex issues’.

Legal 500 2016
Photo of Jennifer McGuire

Jennifer McGuire

Partner

jmcguire@lkshields.ie
+ 353 1 638 5851

Photo of Gerry Halpenny

Gerry Halpenny

Chairman

ghalpenny@lkshields.ie
+ 353 1 637 1546

Photo of Emmet Scully

Emmet Scully

Partner

escully@lkshields.ie
+353 1 637 1538

Photo of Richard Curran

Richard Curran

Managing Partner

rcurran@lkshields.ie
+ 353 1 637 1514

Photo of Marco Hickey

Marco Hickey

Partner

mhickey@lkshields.ie
+ 353 1 637 1522

Photo of Philip Daly

Philip Daly

Partner

pdaly@lkshields.ie
+353 1 637 1582

Photo of Ruairí Mulrean

Ruairí Mulrean

Partner

rmulrean@lkshields.ie
+ 353 1 638 5844

Photo of Gemma Forde

Gemma Forde

Partner

gforde@lkshields.ie
+353 91 341 347

Photo of Lester Sosa-Villatoro

Lester Sosa-Villatoro

Partner

lsosavillatoro@lkshields.ie
+353 1 638 5880

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