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The year 2025 was a significant one for business deals, mergers and acquisitions in the north.
The ownership of some of our best known companies and businesses changed this year, with US and Japanese investors in particular taking keen interest.
Just a few months after US software giant EPAM Systems bought Newry-based FD Technologies’ consulting arm in late 2024, an all-cash deal for the remaining FD Technologies business was backed by its board in May and shareholders the following month.
Founded as First Derivatives in 1996 by the late Brian Conlon, the deal with Boston-based private equity firm TA Associates valued the software business at around £541.6 million.
Significantly, it also resulted in FD Technologies being delisted from the London Stock Exchange and Euronext in Dublin during July.
October brought another landmark acquisition in Newry, with news that sports tech company STATSports was acquired by Sony in a multi-million dollar deal.
Founded in 2008 by Alan Clarke and Sean O’Connor, STATSports has developed advanced performance wearable technology that is used by more than 800 elite sports clubs across multiple sports, including soccer, American football, rugby, baseball and basketball.
Sony said the acquisition allows it to add STATSports’ state-of-the-art athlete tracking technologies and performance analysis solutions to its existing array of sports technology solutions.
Just two weeks after that announcement, another of Japan’s largest companies closed its own acquisition in the north-west.
The communications giant NTT DATA bought Derry City-based software consultancy Alchemy Technology Services in late October.
Staying in the world of tech, July saw Dublin-based Distilled Limited acquire popular listing sites PropertyPal and Used Cars NI.
They join Distilled’s significant portfolio, which includes Daft and DoneDeal.
The summer also saw the acquisition of Newtownards-based business advice firm Milecross Financial by the Openwork Partnership.
Milecross has more than 100 advisers located across Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK and assets under advice/management approaching £750m.
In July, the Derry-based Martin Group completed the acquisition of trailer manufacturer Montracon from the Montgomery family.
The same month, Co Derry manufacturer Sperrin Metal was bought by the family behind Limavady’s Seating Matters.
The Tierco Group acquired 100% of the Draperstown firm for an undisclosed sum
Three years after CRH put Farrans up for sale, a deal for one of the north’s biggest construction companies was announced with Dublin-based John Sisk & Son in early September for an undisclosed sum.
All regulatory approvals were secured in early November, with 625 employees moving to Sisk. The deal will see Farrans continue to operate under the well-established brand.
Potentially the biggest single deal announced during 2025 was French investment firm Ardian’s acquisition of Power NI’s parent company, Energia Group.
The transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, will reportedly value Energia at €2.5 billion.
It will represent a significant return on the €1bn US-based I Squared Capital paid for the Irish utility group ten years earlier (then known as Viridian).
Reporting by this newspaper last month disclosed how dividends paid out of Energia’s Northern Ireland holding company to its private equity shareholders since 2016, had reached £771.4m.
In November, the £120m turnover Lisburn-based commercial refrigeration and catering equipment specialist Lowe was sold to a private equity firm for an undisclosed sum.
MML Keystone became the new majority shareholder of temporary kitchens specialist Lowe Rental Corporation, which supplies refrigeration equipment to some of the world’s most prestigious events and venues in sport, food and hospitality.
We closed out 2025 with the historic separation of the Short Brothers business by Airbus and Boeing.
The Northern Ireland operation was a smaller piece of a global carve up of Spirit Aerosystems between the world’s two largest aircraft manufacturers.
Around 1,600 workers are understood to have transferred to Airbus, following the Toulouse-based aerospace giant’s acquisition of the production lines for its A220 jet series.
The remaining 2,400 employees moved to the newly created independent subsidiary, now known as Short Brothers, a Boeing Company.
In the broader world of business, 2025 was the year that finally saw Vodafone and three complete their £16.5 billion merger, creating the UK’s largest mobile operator.
In the summer, the Czech billionaire owner of the Kilroot and Ballylumford power stations in Co Antrim also closed his £3.6bn deal for Royal Mail.
Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group completed the acquisition in June, taking the 500-year-old company into foreign ownership for the first time.
In November, Dalata, the Irish hotel group behind the Clayton and Maldron hotels in Northern Ireland was acquired in a €1.4bn (£1.22bn) deal with Scandinavian property companies Pandox and Eiendomsspar.
Elsewhere, 2025 gave us Aviva’s £3.7bn acquisition of Direct Line and US giant DoorDash’s acquisition of Deliveroo for £2.9bn.
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