Cork businesses getting ‘investment ready’ with EY
Ronan Murray, Corporate Finance Partner and Cork Office Managing Partner, EY Ireland, Denise Tormey, President and Co-Founder of PlanNet21, and John Kennelly, Tax Partner EY Ireland.
The EY Private event, jointly hosted by the firm’s Lead Advisory M&A and Tax teams, focused on how businesses can be ‘investment ready’ from both a financial and tax perspective, as well as the importance of professional advisors taking a sector-led approach to provide solutions to businesses.
"Despite the ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, Ireland remains one of the world’s most dynamic and competitive countries, with an innovative, technology-driven, service-focused and open trading economy.” explained Ronan Murray, Corporate Finance Partner and Cork Office Managing Partner at EY Ireland.
“Cork and the wider Munster region are at the heart of this ongoing success. Over recent years, it has developed into a fantastic location for indigenous private companies — from established family businesses to start-ups and scale-ups within the region’s dynamic entrepreneurial community. For most private companies, however, there will come a time when external investment is required, whether to further scale the company and seize new opportunities, or for shareholders to seek an exit and return on their investment.
"Being well prepared is essential to maximise value in a transaction,” continued Ronan. “Appointing advisors can also significantly ease the transaction process and enhance value, ensuring management can continue to focus on delivering success in day-to-day operations.”
The guest speaker at today’s event was Denise Tormey, president and co-founder of PlanNet21 and a previous EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist. At the event Denise outlined the growth story of PlanNet21 and how they prepared the organisation for a hugely successful sale in November 2024.
“This was a major milestone for the firm and one which the EY Lead Advisory M&A and tax teams were proud to support in achieving a successful market-leading transaction for Denise and the PlanNet21 shareholders,” added Ronan.
In addition to its core service lines of Assurance, Tax and Law, Consulting, and Strategy and Transactions, in recent months, EY Ireland has been providing a wider and deeper lens to support clients via an industry and sector model.
“The traditional model of the large professional services firms would be primarily based around core service lines, but here at EY we believe in an industry and sector model. This is focused on meeting our clients where they are, in areas including Consumer and Health, Industrials and Energy, Government and Infrastructure, Technology, and EY Private, which is led by Cork-based Tax Partner Frank O’Neill. The core expertise we provide will be far more than the traditional assurance, consulting, tax, and transactions — but a real sector-led expertise to everything.”
According to Ronan, the key focus of EY Private, in particular, is assisting these indigenous Irish firms to scale and succeed. “Instead of just having one or two staff underpin them on their journey, we look to make sure there is at least one from each of our core service line disciplines supporting these EY and Irish private enterprises.”
Looking to the wider M&A landscape over recent years, Ireland has maintained a steady upward arc during a turbulent economic period, says Ronan.
“Between 2022 and ‘23, M&A globally had contracted; however, in Ireland over the same period, it retained a level of activity that, while still declining, was better in terms of both value and volume. The Irish economy is quite resilient with stable governance, access to talent through strong universities and a business-friendly environment — all of which play their part in building resilience in the Irish M&A landscape.”
He points to a slight rebound globally in M&A from the back end of ‘24 until recently.
“There has probably been a hold-off on decision-making over the past six to eight weeks as companies assess the impact of potential tariffs and deal with uncertainty, but I would argue it is more on the Large Cap transactions rather than Mid Cap, which would account for much of the Irish market. Ireland has held its own with transactions still ongoing and given that the cost of debt is declining, we are still seeing a reasonable amount of activity and a good pipeline, despite the uncertainties of the geopolitical landscape.”
As the only global programme of its kind for entrepreneurs, EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year programme celebrates, connects, and supports entrepreneurs as they unlock their ambitions. “Now in its 28th year here, it is a first-class market-leading programme helping us to identify and acclaim the best indigenous people in business on the island of Ireland,” notes Ronan.
Amongst the 2025 finalists are Cork-based MSL Engineering, Otonomee and Granite Digital. Collectively this group of world-class business leaders are already generating annual revenues approaching €1 billion and employing over 4,000 people.
Last month, former Tánaiste and Government Minister Simon Coveney joined EY’s Geopolitical Strategy Unit as a consultant. Co-led by EY Ireland Partners Simon MacAllister and Aidan Meagher, the Unit provides a unique offering to clients and organisations across the island of Ireland navigating this era of heightened geopolitical complexity and the careful integration of political risk management into business strategy and governance. “With businesses increasingly focused on assessing the potential impact of global risk on their investments, supply chains, and strategy, Simon’s long and distinguished career in public service will allow for deeper insights and value to clients in a time of changing global marketplaces,” Ronan added.
To learn more about how EY can help your business get investment ready, contact Ronan Murray at EY Cork: www.ey.com/en_ie/people/ronan-murray
- Understanding key value drivers is essential to both preparation and execution;
- Having a clear growth story with understandable drivers that underpin financial projections to match specific investor criteria and strategic objectives;
- Aligning key management in preparation for a transaction process, while also ensuring the team has bandwidth to focus on the day-to-day running of the business;
- Ensuring the business/economic cycle supports exit (e.g. historic company performance versus forecast performance, macroeconomic environment, etc.);
- Ensuring compliance across all areas of the business (e.g. regulatory, environmental, sustainability, etc.).
- Consider appointing professional advisors to support the transaction and ensuring management can continue to focus on delivering success in day-to-day operations of the business and reduce the risk of value erosion.
