EG Group: Billionaire Issa brothers sell £367m Italian arm August 12, 2025 EG Group, the empire co-founded by a major investor in supermarket giant Asda, has sold its Italian division in a deal which values it at €425m (£367m). The Blackburn-headquartered group has agreed terms with a consortium of established Italian operators comprising PAD Multienergy S.p.A., Vega Carburanti S.p.A., Toil S.p.A., Dilella Invest S.p.A. and GIAP s.r.l. [...]
KKR pushes for Assura to ditch PHP deal amid bidding war August 8, 2025 The bidding war between private equity giant KKR and retail investor Primary Health Properties (PHP) has heated up after KKR pushed for Assura to ditch an already recommended takeover offer from the latter. KKR’s investment vehicle Bidco – which is also by fellow US private equity Stonepeak – said on Friday it has held discussions [...]
Shawbrook expands loan book ahead of mooted London float August 7, 2025 Specialist lender Shawbrook expanded its loan book in the first half of the year helping profit soar. The bank – which is owned by private equity firm Pollen Street Capital – recorded a 35 per cent jump in profit before tax to £168.6m as its loan book grew 14 per cent to £17bn. Deposits were [...]
Spectris bidding war intensifies as KKR submits fresh offer August 5, 2025 The private equity bidding war for precision instrument business Spectris has stepped up a gear after New York-based KKR stepped in with a fresh offer that values the business at £4.8bn. The offer of 4,175p per Spectris share outflanks a fresh offer made by Boston-based Advent of 4,100p per share on Friday, and represents a [...]
Auction Technology Group shares tumble after debt-fuelled acquisition of Chairish August 4, 2025 Shares in Auction Technology Group tumbled on Monday after the firm added to its debt pile with the acquisition of furniture marketplace Chairish in a $85m (£64m) deal. The London-listed company said it had extended its revolving credit borrowing capacity to $275m alongside the deal, which was funded by a combination of cash and debt. [...]
Why Evercore bought Robey Warshaw – the boutique bank that signed George Osborne July 30, 2025 With the announcement that Robey Warshaw has been bought for £146m by Evercore, the potent boutique dealmaker is set to morph into a UK foothold for the New York-based advisory firm. Evercore boss John S. Weinberg praised Robey Warshaw’s “extraordinary, long-standing relationships”, forged by its five partners – led by Simon Robey and Simon Warshaw. [...]
Wood Group likely to recommend takeover sparking delisting fears July 28, 2025 London-listed engineering and consulting firm Wood Group said it is likely to recommend a takeover by Middle Eastern-based privately owned company Sidara sparking another potential delisting from the London Stock Exchange. Wood said on Monday that Sidara, formerly known as Dar Al-Handasah, had expressed interest in acquiring the group with a 35p per share deal. [...]
Breadmakers Hovis and Kingsmill butter up £75m merger July 26, 2025 Bread producers Hovis and Kingsmill are set for a historic merger with their owners expected to ink an agreement after months of discussion. Kingsmill, whose immediate parent Allied Bakeries is owned by London-listed Associated British Foods (ABF), and Hovis could benefit from up to £50m of annual cost savings from a merger. The proposed agreement, [...]
Which UK banks are next in line for a takeover? July 11, 2025 As the next wave of banking consolidation kicks off, specialist lenders are in the fray to be swallowed up. The industry has seen a flood of mergers and acquisitions in recent years, of which the latest was a landmark tie-up between Santander and TSB Bank. Santander snapped up 12-year old British high street lender TSB [...]
Jupiter snaps up UK’s largest asset manager for non-profits July 10, 2025 Jupiter Fund Management has acquired CCLA – the UK’s largest investment manager for non-profit organisations – in a bid to expand its UK reach. The deal, which values CCLA at £100m on a 100 per cent equity basis, will mark Jupiter’s entry into the non-profit investment arena. The FTSE 250 firm will add CCLA’s £15.1bn [...]