UK dealmaking activity accelerated this week with the announcement of four takeover offers worth a total of £5.3bn, underlining the country’s position as Europe’s foremost destination for mergers and acquisitions this year. On Friday, the board of TI Fluid Systems, a FTSE 250 car parts manufacturer, recommended that shareholders vote in favour of a £1bn offer from Canada’s ABC Technologies, which is backed by Apollo Global Management.
“ will always be an attractive market because it trades at that structural discount to US peers,” said Moodley. The uptick in UK M&A activity may allay concerns of a slowdown under Keir Starmer’s government, which has frustrated businesses with last month’s £40bn tax-raising Budget. The CBI lobby group said this week that almost half of the businesses in a recent survey were reducing headcount after the Budget, which concentrated the tax rises on the private sector.