Daniel Black
Hello,
It looks like private equity’s annual bun fight over new recruits could be a thing of the past. After JP Morgan said it would fire junior bankers who had lined up a future role through PE’s ‘on-cycle’ recruitment process, Goldman Sachs has started demanding loyalty oaths every three months.
Coincidentally, it comes in the same week that Goldman welcomed back an ex-employee who left to join a hedge fund after only a few years as a junior analyst. However, Rishi Sunak’s advisory role with the firm will be limited so as not to conflict with his recent stint as PM.
And in other news:
- Athora is nearing a £6bn takeover of pension insurer PIC
- Octopus Energy plans to demerge tech arm Kraken
- Q2 dealmaking crashed to its lowest level in a decade
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 spotlight
Nitya Srivastava, an Engagement Manager at EY-Parthenon, was kind enough to share insights from her career this week.
She discussed her path into private equity advisory, the power of networking, and how technology adoption is accelerating value creation.
Read the article to find out more, and get in touch if you’d like to be profiled in our newsletter.
How AI agents are reshaping M&A
Artificial intelligence (AI) agents have huge potential to make deal processes faster and more efficient. But how do you separate the tangible use cases from the marketing hype?
On July 16, we’re hosting a webinar with Ideals and Comparables.AI to look at how dealmakers are using AI to gain a competitive advantage and how these use cases will develop in 2026.
Deal Tracker
Our weekly roundup of all the confirmed M&A deals in the UK.
Industry news
- Britain’s blue chip index hits record high
- Bank of England sees ongoing financial stability risks from global tensions
- Neil Woodford: UK stock market is ‘dying before our eyes’
- Global 3C warming would hurt UK economy much more than previously predicted, OBR says
- UK shares mixed as investors assess fiscal worries, rate cut path
- UK faces ‘daunting’ risks to public finances, OBR warns
- UK insurance distribution M&A has ‘slowest half year’ since H1 2019 – MarshBerry
- Most UK companies would withstand sharply higher tariffs, BoE says
- UK officials hopeful steel industry will avoid 50% US tariff
- Forcing pension funds to buy UK assets is ‘form of capital control’, says Lloyds boss
- JPMorgan-owned Nutmeg posts £40m loss
- Schroder family is facing defining moment for City Dynasty
The rumour mill
- Banks start pitching $4.25bn in debt for Boots buyout
- Blackstone bumps bid for Warehouse REIT after Tritax offer
- Too big too fast: how $10bn UK energy challenger Prax unravelled
- Apollo-backed Athora nears £6bn takeover of UK pension insurer PIC
- UK BNPL fintech Zilch reportedly searching for overseas acquisition opportunities
- Jupiter strikes £100m deal to acquire CCLA
- UK homebuilders are hit with £100m bill after antitrust probe
- Pretium walks away from UK residential deal talks for Sigma
- Masdar strikes €5.2bn UK offshore wind deal with Iberdrola
- Thames Water dismisses last-minute rescue backed by ex-Lib Dem peer
- Triton to acquire Prenax
- Wood Group accounts flagged by watchdog as far back as 2017
- UK set to hold minority stake in Sizewell C nuclear project
- Octopus Energy plans to demerge tech arm Kraken
- US-based distributor agrees to acquire $1.3bn GWP Lloyd’s insurer
- Merck strikes $10bn deal for respiratory drugmaker Verona
- Grant Thornton US and UK compete for German sister firm
- DPI to invest $190m in Egyptian private healthcare group Alameda Healthcare
- Rhône in talks to acquire Direct Healthcare Group and Invacare
- BGF pumps capital into UK’s Rapidrop Global
- Santévet Group is to buy stake in Tedaisy
Job moves
- Goldman asks analysts to swear they haven’t lined up private equity jobs
- UBS names new US ECM head in leadership reshuffle
- Citigroup bolsters European leveraged finance with Deutsche Bank hire
- Deutsche Numis eyes office switch for all staff by 2026
- Morgan Stanley names Esteve head of equity syndicate in Europe
- Man Group announces leadership shake-up across discretionary
- BP bolsters board with former Shell executive Simon Henry
- Napier AI appoints Kenneth Paqvalén as CFO
- WPP hires Microsoft executive Cindy Rose as new chief
- Perwyn makes Partner promotions
- PPRO appoints Michelle Eischeid as new CFO
- Barclays’ recent cuts included a man who made MD in 2022
Market trends
Dealmaking has worst Q2 in a decade
It feels like the M&A market is experiencing a bit of an identity crisis. Bain’s midyear report shows strategic dealmakers strutting about with 11% YoY growth through May, bouncing back from April’s tariff tantrum. The deal count marched upward from 182 in January to 267 in May, proving that some execs have mastered the art of turning chaos into strategic opportunity.
But zoom out to the overall picture, and the Financial Times tells us a completely different story. Q2 dealmaking crashed to its lowest level in a decade (excluding the early months of the pandemic) with just 10,900 deals announced. PE shops have gone particularly quiet, with deals plummeting from 2,500 in Q1 to 1,850 in Q2.
The split is telling: Strategic buyers are plowing ahead with transformative moves and snapping up AI assets like Salesforce’s $8bn Informatica pursuit, even as the broader market has hit pause with pent up demand being held back by an uncertain outlook for growth and inflation.
European GPs happy to store up dry powder
Narrowing down to the European PE scene, it becomes clear that Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs have turned capital deployment into a frustrating waiting game. European GPs are sitting on a mountain of dry powder, €324bn to be exact, but they’re showing little appetite to deploy it.
PitchBook data shows only €97bn was transacted in Q2, making it the slowest quarter since Q1 2023, with deal count hitting its lowest point since Q3 2020.
European real estate fundraising builds momentum
However, the European real estate market is having quite the comeback story. After what can only be described as a rather bruising couple of years, the sector has managed to raise €13.1bn in just six months, already eclipsing 2024’s full year tally of €9.5bn.
While Blackstone’s record €9.8bn vehicle did most of the heavy lifting, the broader trend suggests investors are finally ready to believe that “the real estate recovery is coming into view.”
K3 stacks up low value deals
And finally, according to Mergermarket’s H1 25 global and regional M&A rankings, K3 Capital Group stormed to the no.1 spot for the most active dealmakers in Europe, with 174 deals. However the total value was $15m, proving K3’s reach in the SME market.
Fundraising
- Revolut in talks to raise new funding at $65bn valuation
- MML closes latest B2B-focused fund at $1.2B
- Exponent exceeds target with €1bn+ close for fifth flagship fund
- Coller Capital closes record $6.8bn private credit secondaries fund
IPOs
- Hg-backed Visma targets London for IPO
- SHEIN IPO shine should not force UK to abandon its principles
