Welcome to our review of the UK public M&A market for the second quarter of 2026. Alongside this we are pleased to publish our sixth episode in our Takeover Talks series. In this podcast, Harry Thimont and Hayley Gow discuss with Chris Eberhardt, a partner in our antitrust and competition practice, how the UK and EU merger control landscape has evolved in recent years and how this is impacting UK public M&A.
Links to download the full review and to access our podcast can be found at the bottom of the page.
Overview
Are megadeals distorting underlying levels of activity?
Dealmaking hit record-breaking levels in the first half of 2026, although levels of activity remained volatile. Despite persistent concerns over energy supply and inflationary pressures, central banks held interest rates broadly steady (albeit the European Central Bank raised its three key interest rates in June and there may be other rises coming), equity markets recovered their first-quarter losses, and a series of megadeals were announced which fuelled market confidence.
June also brought an AI-driven “IPO boom” in the US, marked by the accelerated listing of SpaceX and the announcement of the Anthropic and OpenAI IPOs, among others. The longer-term consequences of these offerings remain to be seen, but, given their scale, they are likely to exert near-term pressure on the equity markets, as competition for capital intensifies.
In the UK, deal announcements clustered together as geopolitical tensions ebbed and flowed. Domestic political uncertainty, which has since culminated in the arrival of Andy Burnham at No.10, pushed gilt yields higher over the quarter. Despite this, UK equities proved relatively robust. M&A activity remained split between the small- and large-cap spaces, with a further three firm and three possible offers being announced above £1bn.
Interest from US acquirers and large global private equity bidders showed no sign of abating, and we expect this momentum to carry into the second half of the year, potentially reinforced by a strengthening dollar. Corporate interest also remains significant going into the summer.
Regulatory conditions and execution risk
Over the past decade, transactions have become increasingly complex. Regulatory conditions, in particular, have lengthened deal timelines and introduced additional execution risk. This trend is most pronounced in larger mergers.
- On average, it takes around 100 days from the announcement of a firm offer to the date a scheme becomes effective (or, where the transaction is implemented by way of a contractual offer, the date the offer is declared unconditional).
- For transactions valued above £1bn, this period almost doubles.
Assessing the regulatory risk of a transaction is a central feature of any target board’s analysis. In competitive situations, targets may be able to press bidders to assume a greater share of that risk. In the UK, the Takeover Code affords targets a further measure of protection, since the threshold a bidder must meet to invoke a condition (regulatory or otherwise) is extremely high.
For bidders, the last few years have seen several of the key regulatory authorities review their policy in this area:
- In late 2024, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority announced a new “4Ps framework”, which re-focused on “pace and proportionality”.
- The CMA has also updated its guidance on its approach to remedies in merger cases and is consulting on its approach to assessing efficiencies. It has introduced a “wait and see” approach for global mergers, meaning it will monitor how international regulators assess a transaction before deciding whether to intervene.
- Earlier this year, the European Commission published revised draft merger guidelines offering merging parties a route to present a “theory of benefit” to support a merger and counter the Commission's “theories of harm”, as well as including a wider array of factors (such as innovation and resilience) in the merger assessment.
These developments potentially herald a more permissive regulatory climate, coupled with an increasingly globalised outlook, in which the pursuit of scale is no longer regarded as inherently anti-competitive. This has enabled corporates to contemplate a wider range of transactions than they might previously have considered. For such companies, M&A remains an attractive means of driving long-term growth and accelerating transformation. However, mergers will still face strict scrutiny, and parties need to remain aware of, and proactively deal with, regulatory hurdles as part of the M&A process.
Mandates
In the last quarter, Ashurst Perkins Coie's UK public M&A mandates include advising:
- H.B. Fuller on its recommended offer for Advanced Medical Solutions Group;
- Pharos Energy on its recommended offer by Ratio Petroleum Energy;
- Treatt on its recommended offer by Döhler Group;
- Morgan Stanley on EQT Fund Management's offer for Intertek Group;
- J.P. Morgan Securities on Drax Group's offer for Bluefield Solar Income Fund.
