Daniel Black
Hello,
The long-running saga over who will buy the Telegraph is set to continue after RedBird walked away from a proposed deal. The decision came after the newspaper’s editorial team published a series of negative articles about the private equity firm.
However, RedBird still owns £500m of debt against the publisher, so remains the de facto owner until it can find a new buyer.
And in other news:
- Fintech Iwoca is reportedly up for sale for £1bn
- Castle Water has made an offer for Thames Water
- Falling inflation could tee up another BoE rate cut
Thanks for reading, and connect with me on LinkedIn if you want to discuss how I can help with your next M&A deal.
Deal Tracker
Our weekly roundup of all the confirmed M&A deals in the UK.
The rumour mill
- HSBC overhauls trading business in a bid to become debt powerhouse
- Iwoca reportedly exploring sale options worth over £1bn
- PHP kicks off £750m UK private hospital stake sale
- Virgin Atlantic borrows $745m against Heathrow slots in Apollo deal
- Bain still in hunt for UK wealth firm Amber River as bidding continues
- London Stock Exchange Group bids for UK digital gilt contract
- Ninety One assets jump 20% as flows turn positive
- Telegraph sale to RedBird collapses after newsroom opposition
- Canada says Anglo American’s pledges to secure Teck Resources deal not enough
- Ashurst and Perkins Coie agree transatlantic law firm merger
- NHS landlord lines up bankers for £700m sale
- UK government to line up bankers for British Steel sale
- Wood Group investors back cut-price takeover by UAE’s Sidara
- HICL, Renewables Infrastructure to combine into $5.2 billion UK-listed infrastructure firm
- Castle Water returns with improved bid for Thames Water, The Times reports
- Lufthansa and IAG Consider TAP Bid After Air France Interest
- HICL, TRIG agree tie-up to create £5.3bn UK infrastructure firm
- WPP Draws Interest from Havas and Private Equity, Times Says
- Vattenfall to sell UK electricity distribution ops to Eclipse Power
- Public investors back Pentland floating wind project off Scotland
Industry news
- Goldman may feast on biggest piece of M&A pie in nearly a quarter century
- UK inflation falls to 3.6% in October
- Falling UK inflation paves way for December cut
- UK seeks to revive dwindling stock market with single source of data
- Foreign nationals should ‘bear the brunt’ of cuts, says Reform UK as it seeks to save £25bn
- Falling UK inflation tees Up BoE interest rate cut after Autumn Budget
- UK government to line up bankers for British Steel sale
- Budget measures on energy bills will not sway BoE view on rates, says Pill
Salaries and bonuses
- What are your bonus expectations for this year?
- Hedge fund Tudor is hitting its stride in London on both pay and hiring
- Terry Smith sees pay drop to £23m as Fundsmith profit declines
- Cravath’s City lawyers in line for £100,000 bonuses as pay wars continue
Job moves
- Grant Thornton UK to hire 160 partners following Cinven deal
- Hedge fund Balyasny hired another economist in London
- Dame Alison Rose to chair FNZ’s UK board
Market trends
Enforcement intensity rises across core sectors
Both EU and UK competition authorities are intensifying scrutiny on M&A deals, with enforcement actions concentrated in sectors where market power concerns run deepest, according to McDermott, Will, and Schulte.
Healthcare, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology face the highest regulatory attention, reflecting ongoing concerns about consolidation in essential services and drug pricing. Technology, media and communications follow closely, as regulators grapple with platform dominance and data concentration.
Retail, consumer products, and chemicals also feature prominently, whilst transportation and energy sectors see sustained enforcement driven by infrastructure and supply chain considerations.
AI reshapes CFO mandate
The finance leadership function is undergoing its most significant transformation in a generation, with AI at the centre of change. Nearly half of UK CFOs, surveyed by Harmonicfinance, expect their role to evolve significantly within the next three to five years, yet fewer than 1% have fully embedded AI into their operations.
This gap between expectation and execution defines the current moment: while 30% cite generative AI as the primary technology impacting their work, adoption remains largely experimental.
DeepTech companies lead implementation at 45%, whilst services firms lag with over half yet to deploy any AI capabilities. The disparity signals not just a technology race, but a fundamental reimagining of what financial leadership means in growth-stage businesses.
Confidence cools as policy uncertainty mounts
CFO sentiment on the UK economy has deteriorated sharply, with confidence plunging from 34% to just 12% year-on-year. More than half of finance leaders now hold negative or very negative views (a threefold increase from 17% last year) as tax regime uncertainty and persistent inflation dominate the risk agenda.
Around half of CFOs cite these factors as their primary concerns, while changes in government regulation (41%), global economic volatility (37%), and constrained funding access (27%) compound the caution.
Beware frothy AI valuations
Equity capital markets advisors are urging PE sponsors and corporate sellers to accelerate deal execution while conditions remain favourable, as mounting concerns over AI valuations begin to weigh on benchmark indices.
Despite recent pullbacks, European ECM capacity remains robust, with $3bn to $4bn transactions now feasible and investor appetite undimmed. According to Dealogic, follow-on volumes YtD have reached approximately $107bn across roughly 900 transactions, driven heavily by accelerated bookbuilds which continue to dominate execution formats.
Fundraising
- Backed VC closes $100m seed fund
- Preservation Capital plots €700m fund
- CapVest upstages PE titans with $3.8bn continuation fund
- Goldenpeak wraps up £375m debut fund in just over 12 weeks
IPOs
- Uzbekistan said to plot state fund London IPO before gold miner
- London IPOs are dribbling back but funds don’t have cash to buy
