Mark Ward is a Partner in the Firm's Corporate Department and Head of Mergers & Acquisitions. A&L Goodbody's M&A team has been ranked No.1 Irish M&A Law Firm for 2012 by each of the leading international research publications – Mergermarket, Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters and Corpfin. Mark specialises in mergers and acquisitions, company law, corporate finance, private equity, joint ventures, venture capital, corporate restructurings, commercial contractual arrangements and corporate fundraisings.

Mark's clients include public and private corporates, private equity, financial institutions and commercial enterprises generally. Mark's work ranges from general advise on compliance, including corporate governance, to advise on transactions, restructurings and on commercial contract arrangements.

Experience

Mark's most recent work includes advising:

• The First Lien Lenders Group to eircom on their acquisition of eircom in an Irish examinership process.
• Bloomberg L.P. on its acquisition of PolarLake Limited.
• Premier Foods on its manufacturing Co-Pack arrangements with Boyne Valley Foods.
• Icon plc in its acquisition of Firecrest.
• Capita Group in its acquisition of AIBIFS.
• GenNx Capital Partners (US private equity) in connection with its increased shareholding in Syncreon.
• Irish Food Processors in the acquisition of shareholding interests in C&D Foods.
• Irish Life & Permanent plc in connection with the State recapitalisation.
• Icon plc on its acquisition of Oxford Outcomes.
• Axereal Union de Cooperatives Agricoles on its acquisition of the malting business of Greencore for €116m.
• Blockbuster, a leading global provider of media entertainment on its sale of Xtra-vision Limited to Birchhall Investments.
• Bord Gáis Éireann on the acquisition of SWS Energy.

Mark’s experience is also across the entire spectrum of commercial contracts, from advising BearingPoint on its contract for the provision of a new passport production system for the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs to advising Scotts International on its supply agreements and intellectual property sharing agreements with Bord Na Mona. Mark has also advised Premier Foods on its co-pack manufacturing, packaging and delivery agreements with Boyne Valley Foods.

His restructuring experience includes advising in connection with the following - eircom, EMPG (Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep); Iralco; AgCert International plc and McInerney Group.  

Market Recommendations

Mark is recommended by a number of leading legal directories including Chambers Global, Best Lawyers, the Legal 500, European Legal Experts and PLC which lawyer?. "Mark Ward is a top-tier M&A and public company lawyer" (The Legal 500). "Mark attracts praise for his commercial approach" (Chambers Global 2013). "He is highly regarded by clients, who say he is very impressive and excellent at communicating his point” (Chambers Global 2012). “He is well regarded by clients as an energetic and focused lawyer with a hands on approach” (Chambers Global 2011). “Mark is an excellent leader in M&A” (Chambers Global 2009). Commentators describe him as “practical, commercially astute and adept at managing major transactions” (Chambers Global 2010).

Education

• BCL, University College Dublin, 1990
• Solicitor, Law Society of Ireland, 1994

Professional activities

Mark has lectured at the Irish Law Society on contractual arrangements and has presented at a number of conferences, including conferences relating to mergers and acquisitions in the technology sector.