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<\/p>\nA major British manufacturer is set to become the latest UK company to be snapped up by an overseas buyer.<\/p>\n
The multibillion-pound deal comes as foreign firms continue to target British businesses amid relatively low stock market valuations.<\/p>\n
Swiss engineering giant ABB has agreed a \u00a34.1billion deal to buy British manufacturer Rotork, making it the latest UK company to be taken over by an overseas business.<\/p>\n
Rotork, which is based in Bath, makes flow control equipment mainly used by the oil and gas industry. ABB will pay 506p a share under the deal.<\/p>\n
The takeover follows a string of overseas bids for UK-listed companies in recent months, including Tate & Lyle, easyJet, Intertek and Evoke.<\/p>\n
ABB chief executive Morten Wierod said the company had admired Rotork for many years.<\/p>\n
“ABB has followed Rotork over many years, and we admire the execution excellence, engineering quality and customer trust that Rotork’s teams deliver each day,” he said.<\/p>\n
He said the takeover would strengthen ABB’s automation business.<\/p>\n
ABB said Rotork would continue to operate as a standalone business within the group.<\/p>\n
The company also warned that some jobs could be lost where back-office and support roles overlap. However, it said any reductions were “not expected to be material”.<\/p>\n
Swiss engineering giant ABB has agreed a \u00a34.1billion deal to buy British manufacturer Rotork<\/p>\n
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GETTY<\/p>\n
ABB added: “ABB does not intend to make any other headcount reductions that would be material.”<\/p>\n
Rotork chairwoman Dorothy Thompson backed the deal, saying the two companies were a strong fit because they both focus on automation and electrification to improve efficiency and support more sustainable operations.<\/p>\n
The Rotork deal forms part of a mounting wave of overseas acquisitions sweeping through British business.<\/p>\n
In June, food ingredients group Tate & Lyle accepted a \u00a32.7billion offer from American competitor Ingredion, with directors unanimously endorsing the cash proposal.<\/p>\n
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Rotork chairwoman Dorothy Thompson backed the deal, saying the two companies were a strong fit <\/p>\n
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GETTY<\/p>\n
US delivery platform DoorDash finalised its \u00a32.9 billion purchase of Deliveroo earlier this year, while Swiss insurer Zurich secured an \u00a38.1billion agreement to buy FTSE 100 firm Beazley in March.<\/p>\n
Asset manager Schroders also agreed to go private through a \u00a39.9billion takeover by US investment firm Nuveen.<\/p>\n
Office for National Statistics figures reveal that 163 British companies were acquired by foreign purchasers during the opening quarter of 2026, representing transactions worth \u00a314.2billion.<\/p>\n
This followed a four-year high of \u00a333billion in deals during the final three months of 2025.<\/p>\n
![\"Engineering](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/engineering-company.jpg\")
Rotork makes flow control equipment mainly used by the oil and gas industry<\/p>\n
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GETTY<\/p>\n
Analysts point to comparatively weak valuations on London’s equity markets as a primary driver behind this acquisition spree.<\/p>\n
While the FTSE 100 has shown year-on-year improvement, its growth has lagged behind other major markets, particularly in the United States.<\/p>\n
This disparity has led international buyers, especially American firms, to view British competitors as undervalued and attractive acquisition targets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major British manufacturer is set to become the latest UK company to be snapped up by an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[130],"tags":[232,39,2790,5435,12130],"class_list":["post-104716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-abb","tag-abb","tag-economy","tag-jobs","tag-money","tag-sgg"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116935938915081163","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}