Daniel Black
Hello,
There was fresh news in the Costa Coffee takeover battle this week, with Apollo reportedly walking away from the bidding process. The PE giant is also in the news for its generous salaries, which apparently dwarf those on offer from KKR.
And in other news:
- Spire Healthcare’s shareholders are pushing for a £1.4bn sale
- NatWest is in talks to sell pensions fintech Cushon
- Train station favourite Upper Crust could soon be for sale
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.
Industry news
- Reeves must ‘invest in London’ in Budget, says Khan
- Revolut pledges £3bn UK investment as it prioritises full banking licence
- UK set for highest inflation in G7, says OECD
- UK business activity growth undershoots expectations
- London Stock Exchange strikes AI deal with Databricks
- Amundi’s UK boss: Why the British market is ‘a clear priority’
The rumour mill
- China’s SDIC is said to weigh selling UK renewable energy assets
- Goldman’s Petershill to delist from London Stock Exchange
- Apollo reportedly backs away from Costa Coffee bidding process
- Activist investor moves to rustle up takeover interest in Upper Crust owner
- UK’s IPF jumps on Basepoint’s sweetened $693 million takeover proposal
- EMCOR to sell UK unit to facilities services company OCS for ~£190M
- Spire Healthcare taps bankers after shareholder push for £1.4bn sale
- UK’s Revolut weighs buying US bank in push for global expansion
- PX3’s Com Laude to acquire Markmonitor
- Petershill Partners blames ‘enduring valuation discount’ as it quits London Stock Exchange
- Accenture intends to acquire Orlade Group
- CMA CGM plans to acquire UK intermodal operator Freightliner
- WestBridge to score 11.5x multiple on APEM sale
- Limp sales halve Futura Medical share price
- IG Group move into crypto with £60m purchase of digital token site
- Battery Ventures to take majority stake in Signal AI
- Acuity Knowledge Partners acquires Ascent
- Bagnall secures Iceland’s clearance for DORE acquisition
- Lego buys entertainment centres from Madame Tussauds owner Merlin for $270 mln
- NatWest reportedly in talks to sell pensions fintech Cushon
- Oil firms ask Brazil antitrust watchdog to intervene in Subsea7–Saipem merger
- China’s rival to Amazon battles to go global after failed UK bids
- Angola seeks to buy minority stake in diamond company De Beers
- Aptiv considers selling electrical distribution unit instead of a spinoff
- Actis to acquire environmental management company 800 Super
Salaries and bonuses
- BC Partners-owned United Group agrees to pay ousted founder €250m bonus
- Private equity firm Apollo seems to pay far more than KKR in London
- Hedge fund ExodusPoint doubled its pay in London to $1.1m
- High-frequency trading firm Optiver bumped up UK pay after £45.6m profit share
- Citigroup taps Morgan Stanley for head of European futures execution
- PJT Partners hikes average UK pay to £633k as losses widen
Job moves
- Hedge fund Brevan Howard is cutting staff, again
- Hedge fund Citadel hired a Goldman Sachs London lifer after two decades
- Bank of America names Iles and Poensgen co-heads of Emea M&A
- Paul Hastings taps Kirkland for antitrust partner
- Marco Valla: Overlooked at Barclays, crowned at UBS
- Moelis’s UK arm posts £2.5m loss as banker hiring picked up
Market trends
Deal activity drops 12.3% despite optimism
The first half of this year saw a 12.3% year-on-year decline in total deal value, according to analysis from PwC. The UK total stood at £57.3bn in H1 vs. £65.3bn last year.
Despite the drop-off, PwC’s Lucy Stapleton strikes an optimistic tone, noting that “the fundamentals are encouraging as interest rates are easing, liquidity is improving, and equity markets are strong.”
Industrials and services dominated H1 2025 with 400 deals, over half of which concentrated in business services. This was followed by consumer markets at 310 deals and TMT on 307 deals UK-wide.
Separately, Grant Thornton shared its own H1 deal activity, revealing that business support services represented 22% of their 104 transactions valued at £4.7bn.
Long live the mega-deal
Analysis from PitchBook reveals the UK’s private equity landscape is experiencing a remarkable upturn. 2025 has delivered fewer but significantly larger transactions, averaging over £2.8bn per deal compared to last year’s £2bn.
The £34.4bn in mega-deals completed so far has almost caught up with last year’s total of £38.8bn.
Dealmakers bullish on UK’s growth
Global dealmakers expect to see strong growth in the UK & Ireland over the next 12 months, according to a new CMS/Mergermarket report. Only Benelux countries are seen as having higher growth potential.
What’s particularly encouraging for UK dealmakers is the consistent praise for market fundamentals: respondents highlight the region’s scale, developed financing markets, and companies’ ambitious growth trajectories.
An Italy-based CEO noted that “investment choices are greater in the UK because of the market size,” while a US strategy officer emphasised the UK’s stability and “feasible financing options, mainly when we think about larger investments.”
US tech giants double down on UK infrastructure
The government had some good news to shout about last week, following the $42 billion US-UK Tech Prosperity Deal. It’s a positive sign for Britain’s post-Brexit tech ambitions, with Microsoft’s $30bn cloud infrastructure commitment and Google’s £5bn data center investment providing much-needed scale to compete with European rivals.
The pact comes at a strategic moment when US participation in UK VC deals has plateaued at around 60% by value since 2021, up from just 34% in 2016, while deal count participation has stabilised at around 25%, according to PitchBook.
Fundraising
- TPG backs Tide in $120m round, valuing UK fintech at $1.5bn
- Goldman shutters £3bn fund in latest blow to London
IPOs
