Daniel Black
Hello,
We’ve reached December, it’s all downhill from here. And yet there’s still deals being done, such as CVC’s £2bn acquisition of Smiths’ airport scanner unit.
There’s also plenty in the rumour mill, such as:
- Blackstone is making plans to sell a Canary Wharf office block
- BHP offered £40bn in its attempt to buy Anglo American
- Airport handler Menzies is considering an IPO
Thanks for reading, and connect with me on LinkedIn if you want to discuss how Ideals VDR 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
- Blackstone weighs second attempt to sell BP Canary Wharf office
- UK energy tech firm Kraken seeks $500m in funding round
- Airport Handler Menzies weighs IPO, acquisitions amid expansion
- ICG Real Estate is acquiring a portfolio of 24 new stores from Lidl, worth a total of €203.5m
- Perwyn to exit Interact Software to funds managed by Castik Capital
- Epiris to acquire Winterflood Business Services
- Qatar to sell $360m Sainsbury’s stake after share rally
- Saba blocks Baillie Gifford plan to combine two listed funds
- German Doner Kebab targets £1.3bn global sales as it prepares India launch
- Vodacom takes control of Safaricom in $2.4bn deal
- BHP is said to have offered £40bn in aborted Anglo Bid
- Smiths sells airport scanner unit to CVC at £2bn value
- Deutsche Börse launches €5.3bn bid for private equity-backed Allfunds
- UK’s Schroders examines options for Benchmark business, sources say
- Oil majors unite to oppose Subsea7-Saipem merger in Brazil antitrust case
- Exclusive: Amber Energy plans to hold on to Citgo refineries after takeover
- NatWest in exclusive talks to sell Cushon to Willis Towers Watson, sources said
- Domestic and General acquired by US-based insurance firm
- Asurion agrees to buy CVC-Backed UK warranty provider D&G
- Getty warns over UK operations if Shutterstock deal is blocked
- Where will DMGT find £500mn to pay for the Telegraph?
- Delta Group Plc to acquire UpScale IT
- HICL, TRIG scrap plan for £5.3bn tie-up after investor pushback
- PE firm CVC to take control of Low Carbon via £1.1bn fundraising
- Bridgepoint to buy defense communications and power company Comrod
- Fundsmith heads towards record year of outflows as investors pull more than £5bn
Industry news
- BoE lowers capital requirements for UK banks as they pass stress tests
- KKR, Apollo opt in for first BoE private markets stress test
- London Stock Exchange Group partners with OpenAI for ChatGPT data push
Salaries and bonuses
Job moves
- HSBC names former KPMG partner Brendan Nelson as chair
- JPMorgan shakes up ECM with Europe promotions
- HSBC opts for compromise candidate after shambolic search for new chair
- RBC Capital Markets hires ex-Citigroup dealmaker Weissenberger
- Consultant relations head becomes latest senior exit from Newton
- Hargreaves Lansdown taps Vanguard’s Doug Abbott for chief product officer role
- Former Newton IM chief Euan Munro joins Brooks Macdonald board
- Stifel cuts more European markets jobs after advisory shift
- Rothschild hires Barclays’ European sponsors head
- Hedge fund Rokos Capital loses London-based partner
Market trends
Megadeals dominate the market
The Office for National Statistics reveals a notable contrast in Q3 2025: while UK M&A values held remarkably steady, the number of domestic deals plummeted to just 158 transactions, the lowest level since 2017.
This disparity, with domestic M&A values actually rising to £5.3bn (up £1.9bn from Q2) despite 89 fewer deals, signals a market increasingly concentrated in mega-transactions rather than broad-based activity.
Public offers tick along in October
Turning the page to Q4, October’s public M&A landscape maintained a stable rhythm with three firm offers announced, marking activity levels broadly consistent with the same period in 2024.
What stands out is the continued dominance of strategic buyers, which drove two of the three firm offers during the month, extending a trend that has defined the second half of 2025 and represents a marked shift from the sponsor-heavy environment of October 2024.
Noteworthy transactions included Cicor Technologies’ £287m approach for TT Electronics and Long Path’s £339.5m public-to-private take of Idox, while the computer and electronic equipment sector emerged as the month’s hotspot with three separate approaches.
BDO tops Q3 advisory charts
And finally, congratulations to BDO for securing first place in PitchBook’s Q3 2025 Global League Tables as the most active advisor in UK and Ireland M&A, leading the field with 35 deals.
Fundraising
IPOs
