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 [...]
London IPO fundraising slumps to 30 year low July 4, 2025 IPO fundraising has slumped to a 30-year low in London in the latest warning sign on the health of the UK’s capital markets. Just £160m was raised from five listings on the London markets in the first six months of the year, the lowest-first half since 1995, according to data from Dealogic shared with the [...]
Apollo-backed group makes £5.7bn swoop for Pension Insurance Corporation July 4, 2025 Athora – the European insurance group backed by US private equity giant Apollo – has struck a £5.7bn takeover deal for the UK’s Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC). The acquisition will create a group with combined assets worth near £112m and covering the pensions of more than three million people across Europe. The takeover marks one [...]