Daniel Black
Hello,
Another week, another dose of troubling news for the UK’s Chancellor. Inflation is up and economic growth is in reverse, while the UK’s IPO market is on life support. Will Rachel Reeves’s new IPO taskforce help to revive it?
And in a sign that things are already slowing down for summer, it’s a relatively quiet week in the Rumour Mill. A few stories still caught my eye:
- Lloyds is in talks to buy fintech Curve for £120m
- Blackstone has raised its Warehouse REIT offer to £489m
- UK tech M&A dropped 19% year-on-year in H1
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
It was fascinating to hear from Chin-Harn Leong, a partner in KPMG UK’s TMT Transaction Advisory team, about what’s fueling renewed momentum in tech, media, and telecoms M&A.
He discussed rising deal values, the role of AI in due diligence, and how investors are prioritizing scalability over hype.
Read the full article to learn more, and get in touch if you’d like to be profiled in our newsletter.
Deal Tracker
Our weekly roundup of all the confirmed M&A deals in the UK.
Industry news
- FCA’s push to ease share-sale rules poses conundrum for banks
- FCA pursues plans to cut corporate fundraising paperwork
- UK economy unexpectedly contracted 0.1% in May
- UK inflation unexpectedly rises to 18-month high of 3.6%
The rumour mill
- Anglo American Plc’s handling of the De Beers sale angers Botswana, which owns 15% of the diamond producer
- Blackstone raises Warehouse REIT offer to £489m
- Banks pitching $4.25bn debt package to support Sycamore’s Boots buyout
- Lloyds reportedly in discussions to acquire fintech Curve for around £120m
- UK’s Coats Group to buy footwear insole maker OrthoLite for $770m
- Pandox-led consortium makes €1.4bn bid for Dalata, board to recommend offer
- Vista and BC-backed OneAdvanced secures £1.2bn debt package
- Blackstone-backed FTV invests in compliance platform FundApps
- Aurelius is to acquire DCC’s info tech biz in UK and Ireland
- Powell Industries is to acquire Remsdaq
- UK’s NCC Group weighs sale of cybersecurity arm
- SLB’s ChampionX acquisition approved by UK regulator, clearing final hurdle
- South Korea wins UK appeal over arbitration ruling in Samsung merger case
- PIB Group ends Gallagher sale talks and reveals £400m debt raise
- US brokerage platform Alpaca to acquire WealthKernel for European expansion
Salaries and bonuses
Job moves
- Diageo begins search for new boss as Debra Crew departs
- Foresight appoints Investment Associate, opens Exeter office
- LDC adds senior hire to Value Creation Partners team
- LDC makes two senior hires in London
- Investment Association names State Street’s Ann Prendergast as new chair
- Top London hedge fund added 33 people, despite hiring slowdown
- JPMorgan hires equity research MD from another office-loving bank in London
Market trends
Public M&A activity hits five-year high in June
The latest monthly update from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer shows that UK public M&A maintained its upward trajectory in June, delivering 12 firm offers and 5 possible. That brings the 2025 total to 42 firm offers, ahead of the 32 recorded by this point last year.
Competitive tension is rising too, with rival bids for Spectris and Warehouse REIT signalling a more aggressive deal environment.
UK tech M&A takes a tumble
However, it’s not a rosy picture in all sectors. The uncertainty caused by tariffs and stubbornly high interest rates has had a cooling effect on tech M&A in the UK, with just 295 deals completed in H1. This is down 19% year-on-year, though there was an uptick in activity in Q2.
As we reported in previous weeks, overseas buyers have been particularly active, snapping up undervalued UK businesses and accounting for almost half (47%) of all deals. PE-backed transactions also hold remarkably steady at 38%.
Any life left in the IPO market?
Rachel Reeves unveiled another task force this week to revive London’s sleepy IPO market, complete with a new concierge service launching in October. The situation couldn’t be more desperate: the UK hasn’t seen a single VC or PE-backed IPO this year. Shein ditched a London listing for Hong Kong, Just Eat Takeaway is delisting due to “low trading volumes” and Wise fled to New York for deeper pockets.
The government’s throwing everything at the wall: simplified regulations, faster approvals, mega pension funds, and a new “Tell Sid” campaign to get Brits investing in stocks. The FT reports the FCA is also cranking up the risk, allowing companies to raise 75% of their equity value without a prospectus (up from 20%).
European VCs continue a downward slide
European VC started 2025 with genuine optimism, posting its highest quarterly deal value in over a year during Q1, before reality came crashing back in Q2. €29.2bn was invested across an estimated 5,362 deals in H1, representing a 3.7% decline in deal count and 6.2% drop in value compared to last year’s figures.
What makes this particularly brutal is that it marks the fourth consecutive year of decline, turning what many hoped would be a recovery period into another chapter of the sector’s prolonged winter.
According to PitchBook, the culprit isn’t just the usual suspect of high interest rates and inflation, but the fresh chaos unleashed by Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs creating widespread investor paralysis. As public market volatility spikes, VCs retreat to the safety of larger deals, with over 80% of H1 value coming from rounds worth more than €10m. Pre-seed and seed stages have been hit hardest.
Fundraising
