Done deals:

• Building products company Heywood Williams has bolstered its dominance of the Irish hardware market with the €23 million (£15.6 million) cash purchase of the Avenco Group

• Construction and engineering group Balfour Beatty has completed its fifth acquisition this year after snapping up building contractor Cowlin Group for £52 million

• Property Investor SIREO of Luxemburg has made its first purchase, snapping up Scotland State Street building in Edinburgh for £36 million

• Learning solutions and support service provider Carter & Carter has bagged the Blackwater House training operation of Northern Ireland for £980,000 in cash

• Dublin-based CRH has added to its building materials group after swallowing the remaining 55% of its Dutch competitor Cementbouw for some €213 million (£144.5 million)

• Service provider to the film industry, Hollywood Media Services, has raised £850,000 through a float on AIM

• Investor and operator of renewable energy technologies, Renewable Energy Holdings, has completed the acquisition of an 8MW wind farm in Kirf, Germany, for €10.5 million (£7.1 million)

• Lifting equipment supplier to railways and heavy industry Mechan has been bought by its management for an undisclosed sum

Deals in the pipeline:

• The world’s second biggest cement maker, Switzerland-based Holcim, has ruled itself out of the chase to buy heavy building materials supplier Tarmac

• Renewable energy group Infinis is set to bag biofuel crop grower Scottish BioFuel in an undisclosed, multi-million pound deal

• UK motor retail group Lookers is to acquire certain assets from car dealer Dixon Motor’s administrator and the Ford Franchise for an undisclosed fee

• Life sciences company Entelos is to acquire toxicology company Iconix Biosciences of California in an all-share deal