The fact that more Manx companies have been bought and sold is good news, a lawyer who works in the field says.

The Isle of Man had a 64% increase in the number of local mergers and acquisitions transactions in the first half of 2019 compared to the previous six months, according to law firm Appleby.

Its Douglas-based mergers and acquisitions partner, Garry Manley, told the Examiner: ’It’s a vote of confidence in the Isle of Man.’

Recent examples have been the £225m takeover of Manx Telecom by Basalt Infrastructure Partners and the management buyout of SMP Partners.

The latest edition of Offshore-i, an Appleby report that crunches data on merger and acquisition activity in the major offshore financial centres, focuses on transactions announced in the first six months of 2019.

Offshore jurisdictions as a whole recorded their busiest first half year for mergers and takeovers over the past five years, deal value was down on previous comparable periods due to a rise of minority-stake investments. There were 24 deals involving Isle of Man companies in the first half of 2019, worth a cumulative $560 million.

That meant more work for lawyers in Appleby’s Athol Street office.

The law firm says it advised on deals worth a total of $499 million, or 89% of deals by value, in this period.

’With more than 1,500 deals in the first six months of 2019, the offshore mergers and aquisitions sector as a whole had its busiest start to a year for five years,’ said Mr Manley.

’The Isle of Man had a very busy first half of the year and we are delighted to have advised on such a high proportion of local mergers and acquisitions deals in that period.

’The significant increase in deal volume was pleasantly surprising given the Brexit-related uncertainty at the end of the first quarter, and the telecommunications and corporate services sectors were particularly active.’

Jersey saw an 11% rise in deal volume compared with the second half of 2018 and Guernsey recorded a 4% increase.