Joe Brennan

Dublin

Markets Correspondent at Irish Times

Markets Correspondent with The Irish Times. Ex Bloomberg finance reporter in Dublin. E-mail: [email protected] https://t.co/hSrpaMGAt7

Articles

FD Technologies chairwoman urges investors to back takeover

12 hours ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

FD Technologies chair Donna Troy has urged investors to back a £541.6 million (€643.04 million) sale of the Newry-based data and analytics company to US private equity firm TA Associates at a special meeting on June 30th, saying there are risks to it delivering on its full potential as a standalone public company.
AIB to sell its 49.9% stake in merchant services joint venture

1 day ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

AIB has agreed to sell its 49.9 per cent stake in AIB Merchant Services, which helps businesses accept card payments from customers, to its joint venture partner, the US financial technology group Fiserv. The Irish bank booked €34 million of income from its minority stake in 2024. The transaction will have the effect of boosting AIB’s capital reserves – measured as common equity Tier 1 – by 0.35 of a percentage point, it said in a statement. This equates to about €215 million.
Who is Emeis and where are their Irish care homes located?

2 days ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

Emeis is a French nursing home group formerly known as Orpea. It entered the Irish market in 2020 through the takeover of the TLC Nursing Home portfolio and followed up with further deals. A review of all nursing homes operated by Emeis Ireland has now been requested by the Department of Health.
ECB cuts interest rates by quarter percentage point

2 days ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

The European Central Bank (ECB) cut its key deposit rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2 per cent on Thursday, leaving it at half the level of a year ago when its governing council started to reduce the cost of borrowing. The bank also reduced its main lending rate, to which tracker mortgages are linked, by a quarter of a point to 2.15 per cent, as inflation continued to ease.
Bank of Ireland seen having clarity on UK motor finance scandal costs this year

2 days ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

The UK’s financial watchdog said on Thursday it plans to decide on whether to launch a compensation scheme for mis-sold car loans within six weeks of an imminent court ruling. This would likely bring clarity for Bank of Ireland, which has a 2 per cent share of the UK motor finance market, on the ultimate cost of an industry-wide saga.
European shares rise amid German tax relief package approval

3 days ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

European stocks closed higher on Wednesday, buoyed by German cabinet approval of a €46 billion corporate tax relief package aimed at kick-starting growth. The relief package, the first of a broader series of measures from Berlin’s new government, is an attempt to prevent the struggling economy from shrinking for a third consecutive year.
Energia bid interest ranges from Japanese trading firm to private equity

3 days ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

The US owner of Energia received several first-round bids in advance of a deadline on Friday, after fielding interest from everyone from a Japanese trading company to North American private equity firms, said sources. New York-based investment firm I Squared Capital, which bought Energia, then known as Viridian Group, in 2016, pressed the start button on the long-awaited sale of the Irish electricity and gas utility in late March.
Zara founder snaps up last Dublin docklands project linked to Nama

3 days ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

Zara founder Amancio Ortega’s investment firm Pontegadea has bought a 6,344sq m (68,286sq ft) office building in Dublin’s south docklands for almost €70 million from US property group Kennedy Wilson and the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), according to sources. The deal to buy Ten Hannover Quay, a grade A office development let out to US financial technology group Fiserv, closed last week, the sources said.
Norwegian investor and Swedish hotel group bid €1.3bn for Dalata

4 days ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

Dalata has received a €1.3 billion takeover bid from Norwegian shareholder Eiendomsspar along with a hotel-owning associate of the firm, called Pandox. Eiendomsspar owns a 25 per cent stake in Sweden-based Pandox, whose portfolio includes the Leonardo hotels at Christ Church in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Belfast.
How Bulmers owner’s new chief plans to put the fizz back into former market darling

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Joe Brennan

The first stock market outing of C&C Group’s new chief executive, Roger White, in March had an all-too-familiar feel to it. Less than two months in the job, White presided over a warning in a trading update that the cider and beer maker’s earnings for the year to the end of February were going to be “modestly below” target.