NTR Offloads Irish Broadband To Imagine; Insight Test Services Bought By Sogeti; Costello's Novara Sold To Digiweb; Startup Glantel Sold To Magnet; Plus other M&A and fundraising activity Xiam Sold To US Firm For €20.8m; Mangan Brothers Sell Up To BWG; Goodman's IFP Buys Into C&D Foods; UniPhar Buys Two UK Firms; plus more M&A activity Startup company Movidia is developing minimum power techniques for maximum mobile versatility Kleerex Buys Stake In Featureline; Deerac Merges With California Firm; Cape Clear Sold To US Firm Workday; UTV Expands Its Web Activities; Ladbrokes Pays €155m For Eastwood Bookies; and other M&A activity FD Buys K Capital Source; United Drug Pays €21m For JVA; Lir Chocolates Bought By AIM-Listed Zetar; UTV Media Pays €52m For FM104; and more M&A and fundraising activity The credit crunch is bound to impact on M&A activity in 2008 but corporate finance insiders believe good firms will still get bought MBO At Wood Communications; Siteserv In €8m Roankabin Deal; Newcourt Buys Lenmac & BDS Security; JetBird Secures Funding Of €21m; Homan O'Brien Buys Rival CECL; Zamano In €24.4m Red Circle Deal Suir Engineering Bought By Imtech; EuroCommerce Sold To DataCash Group; Resource Transformed By Pall Mall Purchase; Douglas Wallace Buys Belfast Firm; and more M&A activity Threefold Buys Eircom's Mast Business; PH McCarthy & Partners Sold To White Young Green; Lifestyle Pays €42m For Czech Sports Chain; Standard Chartered Buys Pembroke Group; And other M&A activity Some SMEs can now raise up to €2m equity funding through the Business Expansion Scheme. But there are strings attached Baileys Sell Out To Greenstar; Siteserv Swoops For Whyte's Sierra; Indaver Buys Cedar's Hazardous Waste; Oberniks Make Big Play In The UK; Fortune Checks Out Of School & Group Tours; and more fundraising and M&A activity Leonard Moran is seeking over €300m from investors to produce germ-free chickens and eggs DBS Subsumes Portobello College; Total Produce Buys Into Wholefoods; McKenna Cashes Out From Waterford Hire; Whelehan Sells 11 Choice Hotels; Omada Pockets Securicor Cash; and more fundraising and M&A activity There has been a drought of venture capital investment in tech firms this year. Adaptive Mobile Security has bucked the trend with a recent €10.5m cash injection Clarion Consulting Expands With UK Buy; Goffs Tackles Tatts With UK Acquisition; CPL Continues Buying Spree With Richmond; Level 3 Pays Eight Times Turnover For Servecast; Network Recovery In Acquisitive Mood; plus more M&A and fundraising activities Bank of Scotland (Irl) will pony up equity finance to clients if the deal is right, Paul Cunningham tells Business Plus State-backed VC funds are keeping plenty in reserve for follow-on investment Selling a business should be planned well in advance. A rushed sale seldom reaches the optimum price achievable Accountants Merge For All-Ireland Practice; Kayfoam Woolfson, acquired by FL Partners; City Bin Founders In Company Buy-Back; Venture Capital Wipeout In First Quarter; and more Support services firm Resource has been expanding rapidly through acquisitions since a management buy-in last year Zamano swoops for mobile developer; Horgan family win big from QP sale; Redmere raises more funds for expansion; Northgate snaps up Confidential Payroll; Conlon Quinn sells up to UK firm Wolseley; and more M&A and fundraising deals and activity Irish firms need to develop a little more swagger if they hope to scale and win investment McAfee The Jewel In Eurokom Acquisition; NCB Raises €20m For UK Care Home Group; Ardagh Swoops For Rexam Glass Division; UCD Report Highlights Venture Capital Benefits; plus other M&A and fundraising activities The surge in M&A activity is evidence that that a new breed of entrepreneurs is emerging in Ireland Israel is beating Ireland hands down as a destination for venture capital. Mark Fenelon of Whitebridge Capital explains why House auctions may be in retreat but auctioning off businesses is becoming more common Walsh Western shells out €270m for TDS; Funding deal nets €1m for Visor; Sorrento says US buy will yield more deals; Yq's acquisition of Lighthouse Vending tops up market share; Cullen sells up to White Green; and more Matching the right seller to the right buyer can make all the difference in obtaining the greatest value for your business Miskellas sell out for estimated €16m; Siteserv Spends €25m on double purchase; Systems Solutions absorbs Medicom; Veris expands with two acquisitions; Calyx spends €16m on Mentec buy; Premier buys Chivers back from managers; Plus other M&As BWG bosses spend €250m For Control; BoI sells Davy in MBO deal; Pigsback raises €4m or UK marketing; 3V gets €20m for UK rollout; and other M&A deals Tipperary-based Pinewood sold to Wockhardt in €120m deal; Greenstar buys two waste firms; Consortium buys Champion Sports; Swiftcall sold to management; plus more Stein sells up to Slattery's; Sherry Fitz buys London firm; Clarity moves off the Horizon; Farrell Grant Sparks merges with McClure Watters; Digiweb raises €2m; and more M&A Not all venture capital funds are equal when it comes to getting away funds for investment VC investors take bath with WBT Systems; Roche family exits retail chain; Systems Dynamics buys Software Resources; Irish Times snaps up MyHome.ie; Second Chinese deal for Keyland; and more Kingspan swoops for Leanort; Harrington Bannon cash in for €10m; Doris sells removal firms to Irish Estates; Jackson-Stops sells majority stake; Multinational buys stake in Glenisk; and more Lively Start For Mergers & Acquisitions; MBO At Life Strategies; Lagan Nets €8.75m In Funding; Pat Gunne Exits Family Firm; Norkom To Float On AIM And IEX; State Fillip For VC; Many Firms To Change Hands Newcourt makes two more acquisitions; Horizon pays €2m for Enterprise Process Consulting; EPC makes €17m from IPS deal; Firecomm raises €9.6m in funding; and more Sigmar buys The People Group; SteelTrace bought by Compuware; Indo acquires PropertyNews.com; Goodman acquires 28% of Blackrock Clinic; PFH Computers merges with CK Business Electronics; and more Calyx buys Entropy for €5m; Sterile Technologies sold for €110m; Conduit sale garners €90m for owners; Mazar buys OJ Kilkenny & Co; plus other M&A deals Connect Global Solutions bought by Welocalize; Oceanpath buys Dunn's Seafare; Irish Broadband raises €25m; plus other M&A deals Grafton Group buys Davies; Quinn mezzannie finance for Smart Telecom; Channel 6 raises €14m; plus other M&A deals Technology firms dominated the fundraising landscape through 2005. Here are some of the year's major deals Feargal Quinn's checkout from Superquinn was the largest trade sale of privately-owned Irish firms through 2005. But other vendors did quite well also