Section 15 of the Mergers, Take-overs and Monopolies (Control) Act, 1978 (as amended) ("Mergers Act") requires an Annual Report to be made to the Irish Parliament on the number and nature of investigations carried out under the Mergers Act. In addition, the Annual Report provides information on the total number of merger or take-over proposals notified under the Mergers Act for each year under review and includes details of the purchasers and the "target" enterprises industry sector and, from the 1994 Annual Report, the identity of the parties to the merger.

The 16th Annual Report under the Mergers Act was published by the Minister for Enterprise and Employment in September 1995 and reflects an increase in notification of mergers in the year to 31st December 1994 as compared with the previous year. It is noticeable that:-

  • approximately 59% of notifications were outside the scope of the Mergers Act. This reflects ambiguities and difficulties in interpretation of the Mergers Act which may be reduced by the impending implementation of the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 1995;
  • 100% of the 48 mergers considered were allowed to proceed and five others were withdrawn while under consideration. These figures are in line with approvals in previous years;
  • approximately 65% of the mergers approved involved acquisitions by Irish companies;
  • the financial services and food/drink/agribusiness sectors accounted for over 45% of the mergers approved.

The 17th Annual Report under the Mergers Act was published by the Minister for Enterprise and Employment in March 1996 and reflects a slight (from 124 to 123 notifications) decrease in notification of mergers in the year to 31st December 1995 as compared with the previous year. It is noticeable that:-

  • approximately 57% of notifications were outside the scope of the Mergers Act;
  • of the 53 proposals considered, 52 were allowed to proceed. The remaining proposal in relation to the acquisition by Statoil of the Jet Oil business of Conoco Ireland Limited was referred to the Competition Authority;
  • approximately 58% of the mergers approved involved acquisitions by Irish companies;
  • the food/drink/every business sector accounted for approximately 21% of the mergers approved;
  • the financial services sector approximately 19%; and the print/publishing/packaging/paper sector approximately 23%.

While the Annual Report provides useful indications of market activity, it should be noted that it reflects only the larger mergers and acquisitions over the period.

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