Daniel Black
Hello,
It’s been another difficult week for London’s stock market. Payments company Wise announced plans to move its primary listing to New York, while Cobalt Holdings scrapped plans to list in London. It follows the recent news that Shein had shelved its proposed London IPO in favour of a Hong Kong listing.
However, our Market Trends section includes a report from Mergermarket which suggests that recent economic turmoil might be turning the tide in London’s favour.
And in other news:
- KKR pulled the plug on its Thames Water deal
- JPMorgan has hired HSBC’s global head of M&A
- Bidders are weighing up lowball offers for BP’s Castrol unit
Thanks for reading, and connect with me on LinkedIn if you want to discuss how I can help with your next M&A deal.
Dealmaker profile
Before we dive into this week’s news, we’re excited to bring you more insights from the people working in M&A.
In our first dealmaker profile, we spoke to Jaime Tejero from Evercore about breaking into investment banking. This interview provides valuable insight into the essential skills and challenges of year one.
Deal Tracker
Our weekly roundup of all the confirmed M&A deals in the UK.
The rumour mill
- De Beers draws Interest from Ex-CEOs as Anglo American starts sale
- JPMorgan Global Growth & Income is to complete HINT merger on Thursday
- Alphawave IP agrees further extension for Qualcomm offer
- Royal Mail owner, International Distribution Services, is to be delisted next week after EP Corporate secures 90% of shares, triggering a £3.6bn takeover and compulsory acquisition
- CMR Surgical aims for $4bn sale
- Legal & General merges divisions and cuts jobs across asset management
- Warehouse agrees to £470m takeover offer from Blackstone
- Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird is to buy Telegraph newspaper in £500m deal
- Assura in talks with Primary Health Properties, starts due diligence
- The reluctant newsman: How the Telegraph finally found an owner
- Mitie shares fall 11% as it strikes £366m deal to buy Marlowe
- Unite sells nine student accommodation properties for £212m
- Bidders for BP’s Castrol weigh offers below expected $8bn valuation
- L’Oréal poised to seal €1bn deal for skincare brand Medik8
- WH Smith cheers rising travel revenue ahead of high street sale
- Builder.ai founder plots potential deal to buy failed company
- Shuka to seal Leopard Exploration deal after antitrust okay
- Private equity firm KKR pulls out of plans to invest in Thames Water
- Hims & Hers is set to acquire Zava
- Rosebank Industries is in talks to buy US’s Electrical Components
- FD Technologies revenue rises but loss widens as admin costs mount
- Phoenix plots rebirth as Standard Life
- Inflexion-backed Ocorian to acquire Fund Solutions division of E78
- Frenkel Topping is in takeover talks with Harwood Private Equity
- Keysight passes key milestone to clear Spirent takeover deal
- Pandox consortium proposes takeover offer for Dalata Hotel Group
- Totally shares plunge as it intends to make subsidiary disposals
- M&G shares up as Dai-ichi Life aims to buy 15% stake amid partnership
- M&G boss eyes more private markets deals after tie-up with Japan’s Dai-ichi Life
- Vitruvian Partners injects £140m into Dojo
- Argentex suitors Clune, Adams and Lumon end takeover interest
- Renewi takeover by Macquarie receives regulatory approval
- Net Zero Infrastructure plans reverse takeover of Westura Energy
- Inspired gets £130m takeover bid from HGGC
- Drax says offer for investor Harmony Energy Income Trust has lapsed
- GPE sells Challenger House hotel for £42m
- M&C Saatchi to acquire Dubai-based sports agency Dune 23
- HIG to buy Rentokil’s workwear unit in France for £345m EV
- Playtech agrees deal to exit Happybet German betting operating
- GlobalData considers offer by ICG Europe Fund as KKR backs away
- Sirius Real Estate inks £36m business park deals
- Epassi Group acquires UK-based Zest
- What Shackleton’s strategic expansion means for UK wealth management
- BancTrust downsizes London headquarters in latest cost-cutting measure
- Rokos Capital Management up nearly 5% in April, despite tariff turmoil
Industry news
- The IMF upgrades its 2025 UK growth forecast to 1.2% amid recovery signs but US tariffs will dent 2026 growth by 0.3%
- Reeves is locked in UK spending review showdown with four ministers
- Trump tariff ruling risks slowing down delivery of UK trade deal
- BoE governor urges UK government to seek closer trade ties with EU
- Private Equity, Sports and Games sidestep frozen global M&A pipelines
- British steelmakers race to secure US orders at lower tariff rate after UK carve-out
Salaries and bonuses
- Who are the UK’s highest paid wealth bosses?
- How much did CEOs at SJP, Rathbones and Quilter earn last year?
- Ex-City minister backs bonus cap cut as government pushed to go faster on growth
Job moves
- JPMorgan hires HSBC’s M&A head Jabre in latest top exit from UK lender
- Lombard Odier ramps up UK expansion with key hires and a new Mayfair office
- Brevan Howard hires ex-JPMorgan heavyweight Hernandez as executive chair
- Hargreaves Lansdown chief Dan Olley exits after £5.4bn private equity takeover
- How SJP’s new boss called in the consultants and revamped the firm
- Goldman Sachs ups EU headcount by 14% as revenue rebounds
- L&G eyes 70 job cuts across £1.1tn asset management business
- Amundi recruits former L&G index specialist
- UK regtech Napier AI names Noel King as new chief technology officer
- Crypto hedge fund Wincent to hire 50 staff amid 11% gain
- Lombard Odier ramps up hiring for UK wealth business
Market trends
Reeves feels the heat
If April’s borrowing data tells us anything, it’s that Rachel Reeves is facing some serious pressure. The £20.2bn borrowing figure came in £2.3bn higher than economists from Reuters had predicted, which is frankly not the kind of start of the tax year anyone at the Treasury was hoping for.
With her fiscal headroom down to just £9.9bn and spending pressures mounting, more tax hikes are potentially coming in the Chancellor’s autumn budget.
Go big or go home
Foreign buyers are getting pickier about UK assets, and the latest numbers from ONS prove it. While Q1 2025 saw inward M&A values surge to £19.2bn (the highest since late 2022), the actual transaction count paints quite a different picture: just 167 deals completed, down from 189 in Q4 2024 and 179 in Q1 2024. Notable inward transactions included DS Smith’s sale to International Paper and Britvic’s acquisition of Carlsberg.
This shift is reflected across the broader M&A landscape, where total transaction numbers fell to 395 in Q1 from 497 in Q4 2024, despite overall deal values also reaching their highest levels since Q4 2022.
The Bank of England noted that M&A activity shows “signs of improvement, but growth is constrained by caution among buyers and sellers. Restructuring and insolvency activity remains slightly higher on a year ago.”
Rock-bottom REITs in Europe
European REITs (real estate investment trusts) have become the unexpected darling of M&A activity, and it’s easy to see why. According to Fidessa and ION Analytics insight, listed REITs are trading near decade lows while infrastructure assets elsewhere have delivered much stronger returns, creating a valuation gap that’s hard to ignore.
The numbers back this up: 14 deals worth €7.4bn have closed in the year through May 28, making 2025 the third-highest YTD result since 2014 despite being slightly down from last year’s €9.6bn.
IPOs feeling the lure of home comforts?
Despite this week’s news about Wise’s switch to New York, Mergermarket is reporting that European firms are giving up dreams of a US-listing in favour of their home markets.
The shift is fuelled by “uncertainty over US policy and less confidence in the future of US regulation.”
It reports that Revolut and Monzo could both choose to list in London later this year. Let’s wait and see.
IPOs
- Glencore-backed Cobalt Holdings scraps planned London listing
- UK fintech Wise to switch main stock market listing to New York
