Daniel Black
London is losing on three fronts this week. Flutter – the FTSE 100 owner of Paddy Power and FanDuel – said it will delist from the London Stock Exchange in favour of the US. FN London reported that UK equity outflows have widened to £135bn since the Brexit vote.
And UK retail investors poured more than $1bn into SpaceX’s IPO, which the FT says is “like nothing we have seen before”.
Institutional money, corporate listings, retail demand – all three are voting with their feet.
And in other news this week:
- Banks are competing to underwrite £5bn of debt for EQT’s £9.4bn Intertek buyout, marking the deal’s transition from board approval to financing
- Thames Water edged closer to nationalisation as the environment secretary cast doubt on the £10bn rescue plan
- Peel Hunt’s dealmaking fees more than doubled on the back of the UK M&A boom
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
- EQT agrees to acquire UK’s Intertek for £9.3bn in Latest LSE Exit
- Bunzl can create enough excitement to rebut Elliott’s proposals
- Nordic Capital to merge Liberis and Qred to form unified SMB lending platform
- FanDuel Owner Plans to Delist From London After Shift to US
- Buying Britain: overseas buyers pile into UK companies
- XTX Markets sues Dell over $619m data centre bill
- UK’s competition watchdog clears ABF’s Hovis takeover
- Shell to Divest $1bn Wind Farm Biz
- Shell Is Said to Select Aditya Birla for Sprng Energy Deal
- Shell pauses $3bn share buyback program due to ARC Resources deal
- Sigma Healthcare exits PE-owned Boots acquisition talks
- Allianz nears deal for HSBC’s Singapore insurance business
- Elliott Is said to tlpake aplmost 5% stake in UK distributor Bunzl
- UK’s competition watchdog clears ABF’s Hovis takeover
- Ashley’s Frasers Seeks Rest of Australian Shoe Firm Accent
- UK Retail Investors Place $1bn of Orders in SpaceX IPO
- Banks Vie to Underwrite £5bn Intertek Buyout Debt
- Elliott mulls $2.67bn takeover of UK’s The Very Group, Sky News reports
- Intertek gains amid takeover speculation
- Spire Healthcare takeover deadline for Toscafund extended to June 25
- Environment secretary casts doubt on £10bn Thames Water rescue
- Thames Water Edges Closer to Nationalization With Rescue in Doubt
- LDC invests in accountancy biz Fortus
- Nordic Capital to acquire water infrastructure biz Flowa from Vestum
- UK challenger Atom Bank reportedly up for sale
- Barclays to buy UK money app GoHenry
- UK demand for SpaceX shares ‘like nothing we have seen before’, say platforms
- Flutter to quit London in latest blow to UK market
- Clock ticks on Beximco Pharma’s London listing
- Ant Middle: How Ageas UK is standing out in a tough personal lines market
Industry news
- Accenture forecasts lower revenue on AI upheaval, Mideast war, also falls after Q4 revenue outlook miss; announces $4.18B cybersecurity deals
- Barclays’ UK private banking boss on AI, family offices, and the 2050 outlook
- UK inflation unexpectedly holds steady at 2.8% in May, ultimately removes any pressure for immediate rate rise
- UK economy contracted 0.1% in April as Iran war hit growth
- Barclays and JPMorgan analysts top ‘City Oscars’ research rankings
- HSBC’s UK private bank avoids ‘mass panic’ over evergreen funds
- Beyond alpha: How crises and rising costs have reshaped asset management
- UK equity outflows widen to £135bn a decade on from Brexit
Salaries and bonuses
- Payouts for top bankers surge amid UK bonus shake-up
- Peel Hunt’s dealmaking fees more than double on UK M&A boom
Job moves
- London traders are joining hedge funds in Abu Dhabi & Dubai again: “I will miss the trees, but I have to make a choice”
- Baker McKenzie names new London boss
- BNP Paribas hires HSBC banker Thomas for UK deals team
- JPMorgan hires Barclays’ co-head of Emea dealmaking Gayne in UK push
- Barclays’ top banker in Europe opted for an easier job at JPMorgan and people are surprised
- Berenberg cuts jobs for the first time in three years
- Citadel’s risk data engineering head in London joined OpenAI to work on agents
- Houlihan Lokey fintech director exits in latest London departure
- Guggenheim Securities hires RBC’s Board in energy push
Market trends
The exit flood nobody saw coming
UK PE exits are on track for a record year in deal count, but the story behind the numbers is less triumphant. Sponsor-to-sponsor sales now account for 62% of all exits, up from 39% in 2023. GPs are generating liquidity by passing assets between themselves while the IPO window stays shut.
The case for a public market recovery is stronger than it’s been in years, though. Six Bank of England rate cuts, the FCA’s listing rules overhaul, and a US capital market rattled by tariff uncertainty have quietly shifted the calculus. According to PitchBook’s latest analyst note on the UK exit market, conditions for going public are more constructive today than at any point in the past five years. Whether sponsors act on that, or keep recycling through secondaries, is the question Q3 will answer.
Healthcare deal volumes looking healthier
114 healthcare deals closed in Q1 2026, a 37% jump on the same period last year, with PE and VC-backed transactions up 43% year-on-year. Grant Thornton’s spring healthcare M&A review shows buyers aren’t just returning to the sector, they’re competing harder for it. The NHS is stretched and defensive assets with genuine clinical niches are commanding serious multiples.
The deal activity reflects that selectivity, with Pennamed’s sale to Sweden’s Getinge an example of a highly competitive M&A process. The one exception is social care, where a CMA review into Welltower’s 600-home acquisition has paused some buyers. If Phase Two forces divestments, that creates a fast-moving opportunity for mid-market acquirers.
Software’s credit wall
Private equity’s appetite for software deals hasn’t gone anywhere. The financing to back them largely has. Credit spreads on the best deals have moved from 400-450 basis points over benchmark to 550-650, blowing out to 800 in some cases. Blue Owl, Blackstone, Apollo, and BlackRock’s HPS have all pulled back from new software exposure.
Debt as a share of the purchase price has dropped from 60% to 40-45%, forcing sponsors to get creative just to get deals across the line.
PitchBook LCD data puts technology at over 26% of BDC portfolios, and the direction is clearly down. LP pressure is driving it. Some deals are now closing as three-way splits between buyer equity, seller rollover, and LP preferred equity. Growth equity minority deals are up 30% to fill part of the gap, but the return profiles aren’t comparable. For sponsors chasing software buyouts, the message from lenders is consistent: prove the AI resilience first.
Europe holds ground in Food and Beverage
Global mid-market F&B deal value held flat in 2025 at $20.4 billion. On a regional level, North America dropped 27% by value as tariff anxiety froze dealmakers. Cross-border deal value fell 31% globally.
Western Europe went the other way, with deal value up 15% year-on-year. A joint Baker Tilly and Mergermarket report on global F&B mid-market activity shows European buyers remained the most active outbound acquirers of any region.
IPOs
