The Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) €887 million acquisition of financial institution First Active, has been voted the FINANCE ‘Deal of the Year’ 2004 by Ireland’s leading corporates in this, the third edition of the survey.
Onee respondent to the survey said that they voted for the deal due its strategic fit with Ulster Bank, the structure and price of the deal, as well as the speed with which it was executed. Another voted for it because, ‘it demonstrated the ability of an effective management team to execute a transaction that mad sound strategic logic and added shareholder value’.
Davy Corporate Finance and JP Morgan advised First Active on the deal, with Arthur Cox providing legal advice, while Merrill Lynch and A&L Goodbody advised RBS. A remarkable aspect of the deal was the fact that it took the market by complete surprise. In joint second place was the buy-out of Riverdeep by senior management, and Grafton Group’s acquisition of UK based builders merchanting group, Telfords. |
