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\t\tThe value of agreed take-privates in London has risen sharply this year.\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tMonday 29 June 2026 8:01 am\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\tThe value of agreed take-privates in London has risen sharply this year.\t<\/p>\n
At a gathering of some of London\u2019s top bankers in the City of London last week, the mood was one of uncertainty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the one hand, London\u2019s dealmakers are not in want of work. In the past two weeks alone Easyjet has opened the door to an approach from American private equity firm Castlelake, Ramsdens agreed to a takeover by US rival Firstcash and FTSE 100 Segro rejected a \u00a312.6bn approach from Californian real estate investor Prologis.<\/p>\n
The value of agreed takeovers of London-listed firms this year now sits at $34.8bn, according to data from LSEG, nearly double that of the take-privates across the entirety of last year. Combined with a dearth of new firms coming to market, the takeover spree is proving a hard thing to celebrate for City bankers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a sense of \u2018is this good?\u2019,\u201d said one banker. \u201cIt\u2019s all well and good selling the family silver. But not if you\u2019ve got no way of rebuilding the wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The London Stock Exchange has been drained in recent years by a raid on its listed firms and a drought of new companies listing. And while the number of bids on listed firms is broadly flat compared to last year, the size of companies attracting them has increased sharply.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A total of five FTSE 100 firms have agreed to take-private deals including Schroders, Intertek<\/a> and Beazley in 2026. Foreign buyers are picking up Britain\u2019s biggest companies on the cheap \u2013 and while there are fees on offer for advisors, bankers are fretting over the consequences<\/p>\n \u201cIf you put your mum\u2019s wedding ring on Ebay, you start to look a bit desperate,\u201d the banker said.<\/p>\n Foreign buyers paying a premium<\/p>\n Analysts point to years of outflows from UK equity funds and sluggish valuations as the primary cause of the exodus from the market.<\/p>\n Of 29 bids announced so far this year, the offer price has come in at an average premium of 36 per cent, according to Peel Hunt. Some of the biggest deals of the year have come in well above that \u2013 Intertek and Beazley were picked off at a roughly 60 per cent premium.<\/p>\n \u201cDeals happen. That\u2019s capitalism. But why do overseas buyers consistently value great British growing companies so much more highly than domestic investors?,\u201d asked James Ashton, chief of the Quoted Companies Alliance after the announcement of the Ramsdens deal earlier this week.<\/p>\n There are tentative signs the tide may be turning \u2013 UK equity funds saw their first net inflows since November 2024 in May, according to data from Calastone \u2013 but City figures say the trend will continue if domestic British investors do not begin to back homegrown firms.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tTate & Lyle confirms \u00a32.7bn takeover by US rival<\/a><\/p>\n