Tughans LLP has been named Northern Ireland’s most active corporate law firm, as it topped the Experian MarketIQ M&A review: Northern Ireland League Table for an impressive eighth year in a row.

The Belfast-based law firm advised on 79 deals during 2022, 40% more deals than the firm in 2nd place, and an increase on 2021. Overall deal value exceeded £1bn.

On a quarterly basis it has been ranked by Experian as the top performing Northern Irish law firm, in terms of deal volume, in 25 of the past 29 quarters. Commenting on the outlook for 2023, Corporate Partner, Paul O’Brien, added: “The firm has had a very strong start to 2023 and the pipeline remains healthy.”

Tughans’ market leading Corporate team, working very closely alongside the Real Estate team, led by David Jones, Banking team, led by Fearghal O’Loan, Employment team, led by Anna Beggan, and Contracts & Technology team, led by Adrian O’Connell, advised on a broad spectrum of deals across a range of sectors. This included acting for Uform on a significant investment by Cardinal Capital, acting for the Business Growth Fund on its investments in the Mzuri Group and Clarke Group, acting on the sale of Blue Zinc IT to ClearCourse, and acting on the sale of Renewable Energy Devices Ltd to Octopus Energy.

Commenting on the result, Head of Corporate, James Donnelly, said: “It is a fantastic achievement to have held the position of most active corporate law firm in Northern Ireland for eight years in a row. It has been another incredibly busy year for M&A and investment activity and we are grateful for being engaged in so many interesting transactions. The Experian rankings are really a testament to the continued dedication and ambitions of our clients. ”

Fellow Corporate Partner, John McGuckian, added: “Our team have worked with leading businesses and investors of all sizes across a variety of sectors in 2022, and we are pleased to see the number of transactions rise once again over the past twelve months.”

Members of the team have also been individually recognised, with Corporate Partner, Paul O’Brien being nominated for the Insider Media ‘Dealmaker of The Year’ award, and Corporate Director, Ben Sims being nominated for ‘Emerging Dealmaker of The Year’.

Tughans’ Managing Partner, Patrick Brown said: “To be the most active advisor in Northern Ireland for the eighth consecutive year reflects the talent within our transactional teams. Advising on 40% more deals than the nearest firm in 2nd place demonstrates our position as the leading corporate firm in Northern Ireland. This result comes as we enter a hugely exciting time for our firm, as we move our headquarters to The Ewart on Bedford Square, which will support both our continued growth and development of our culture of intelligence, collaboration, and innovation.”