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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Why did Santander buy TSB? July 3, 2025 Santander might have hoped its takeover of TSB would make waves across the banking industry, but analysts have dubbed it a more modest splash. The deal, which is set to be worth £2.9bn when closed in 2026, will add TSB’s five million customers, £34bn in mortgages and £35bn in deposits to Santander’s portfolio as well [...]
UK VC investment storms ahead of Europe as AI dominates July 3, 2025 UK venture capital funding stormed ahead of its European peers in the first half of 2025 as the country’s innovation economy remained resilient in the face of wider geopolitical tensions. Total investment topped $8bn (£5.9bn), edging up three per cent from the final six months of 2024. This gave the UK a 30 per share [...]
M&A volumes jump as US bidders snap up UK tech July 2, 2025 US private equity firms are continuing to swoop for UK tech companies leading to a jump in merger and acquisition (M&A) volumes. Giants from across the Atlantic have taken a heightened interest in UK stock, which analysts pegged to the “cheap and undervalued” nature of equities. UK public M&A activity almost tripled in the first [...]
British banks shed workers at fastest pace since 2018 July 2, 2025 British bankers were on the chopping block in 2024 as UK lenders marked the steepest drop in headcount since 2018 amid an industry-wide digital push. Total employee numbers at British lenders slumped 5.25 per cent to 580,371, falling to the lowest number in a decade. Standard Chartered and HSBC made the biggest culls at 4.5 [...]
Santander snaps up TSB Bank for £2.9bn July 1, 2025 Santander UK has acquired high street bank TSB in a landmark £2.9bn deal that will significantly beef up the lender’s market share. The bank’s bid for an all-cash takeover from its Spanish peer Banco Sabadell values TSB at five times its expected 2026 net income. TSB will add five million customers, £34bn in mortgages and [...]
Aviva’s £3.7bn takeover of Direct Line approved by UK watchdog July 1, 2025 Aviva’s acquisition of smaller insurance peer Direct Line has been approved by the competitions watchdog, paving the way for the formation of Britain’s biggest home and motor insurer. The £3.7bn takeover will not be subject to a phase-two investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Tuesday, after a preliminary probe to assess whether [...]
FCA ‘concerned’ over number of takeovers leaked to press July 1, 2025 The UK’s financial watchdog has expressed its concern after fresh figures found nearly two in five takeovers were reported in the press before being formally announced. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned the leaks, which can constitute a breach of market abuse rules, were triggering “price moves…caused by financial analysts or the media correctly predicting [...]