{"id":113,"date":"2024-02-16T09:53:21","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T09:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicmatrends.traverssmith.com\/?page_id=113"},"modified":"2025-02-25T09:45:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T09:45:19","slug":"2024-the-return-of-big-ticket-deals","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/publicmatrends.traverssmith.com\/2025\/2024-the-return-of-big-ticket-deals\/","title":{"rendered":"2024: the return of big-ticket deals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Public M&amp;A activity was sporadic in 2024, slowing down over the Summer \u2013 a predictable consequence of elections in the UK and US \u2013 but then ramping up again in the final weeks of 2024. The total number of firm offers announced in 2024 for UK public companies listed on the Main Market or AIM was 56, just one down from a busy 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notably, 2024 saw a marked increase in high value firm and potential bids. 17 of 56 firm offers had a deal value in excess of \u00a31 billion (30%), a significant increase from the four seen in 2023 (7%), including offers for household names such as <em>Royal Mail<\/em>, <em>Hargreaves Lansdown<\/em>, <em>Virgin Money<\/em> and <em>Direct Line<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was a fall in activity by private equity-backed bidders, representing 43% of the total number of firm offerors (compared with 63% in 2023), but, consistent with the wider market, deal values were notably higher, with eight (one-third) of PE-backed bids having a deal value in excess of \u00a31 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Real estate (notably UK REITs), financial, construction and industrials were amongst the most active sectors in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-accent-5-background-color has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"margin-top:8rem;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40)\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-78fe7594 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\" style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><a href=\"https:\/\/publicmatrends.traverssmith.com\/2025\/2024-a-year-in-numbers\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"linkBoxWrapper\">\n    \n    <div class=\"linkBox is-layout-constrained animated fadeInUp\" style=\"background-color: var(--TS-Racing-Green)\">\n        \n        <div class=\"linkAnimFill\" style=\"background-color: var(--TS-Turquoise)\"><\/div>\n        \n        <div class=\"linkText\" style=\"color: var(--TS-White)\">2024: a year in numbers<\/div>\n        \n        <div class=\"iconContainer\" style=\"left: 1rem\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"icon\" src=\"https:\/\/publicmatrends.traverssmith.com\/2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/icons\/left-icon-White.svg\">\n        <\/div>\n        \n    <\/div>\n\n<\/a>\t\t<style>.linkBox, .linkText, .linkAnimFill, .iconContainer {\n    --TS-Gold: #A38000;\n    --TS-Copper: #C35500;\n    --TS-Terracotta: #EE7442;\n    --TS-Turquoise: #82C7B3;\n    --TS-Apple: #A3C961;\n    --TS-Fossil: #F4F0D4;\n    --TS-Aubergine: #4E1649;\n    --TS-Racing-Green: #0F3F32;\n    --TS-Oxford-Blue: #001F49;\n    --TS-Prussian-Blue: #444541;\n    --TS-Black: #000000;\n    --TS-White: #FFFFFF;\n}\n\n.linkBoxWrapper {\n    text-decoration: none !important;\n    margin-bottom: 1rem;\n    height: 100%;\n}\n\n.linkBox {\n    padding: 4rem 1rem 1rem;\n    width: calc(100% - 2rem);\n    height: calc(100% - 5rem);\n    position: relative;\n    overflow: hidden;\n}\n\n.linkAnimFill {\n    height: calc(100% + 2rem);\n    width: calc(100% + 2rem);\n    position: absolute;\n    top: 100%;\n    left: 0;\n    z-index: 1;\n    transition-duration: 0.3s;\n}\n\n.linkBox:hover .linkAnimFill {\n    top: 0;\n}\n\n.linkText {\n    z-index: 2;\n    position: relative;\n    font-weight: bold;\n    font-size: 1.5rem;\n}\n\n.iconContainer {\n    width: 2rem;\n    height: 2rem;\n    overflow: hidden;\n    position: absolute;\n    top: 1rem;\n    z-index: 2;\n}<\/style>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><a href=\"https:\/\/publicmatrends.traverssmith.com\/2025\/2024-trends-and-highlights\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"linkBoxWrapper\">\n    \n    <div class=\"linkBox is-layout-constrained animated fadeInUp\" style=\"background-color: var(--TS-Racing-Green)\">\n        \n        <div class=\"linkAnimFill\" style=\"background-color: var(--TS-Turquoise)\"><\/div>\n        \n        <div class=\"linkText\" style=\"color: var(--TS-White)\">2024: trends and highlights<\/div>\n        \n        <div class=\"iconContainer\" style=\"right: 1rem\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"icon\" src=\"https:\/\/publicmatrends.traverssmith.com\/2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/icons\/right-icon-White.svg\">\n        <\/div>\n        \n    <\/div>\n\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Public M&amp;A activity was sporadic in 2024, slowing down over the Summer \u2013 a predictable consequence of elections in the UK and US \u2013 but then ramping up again in the final weeks of 2024. The total number of firm offers announced in 2024 for UK public companies listed on the Main Market or AIM [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":464,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"wp-custom-template-2024-content-page","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-113","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>2024: the return of big-ticket deals - Public Trends 2025<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/publicmatrends.traverssmith.com\/2025\/2024-the-return-of-big-ticket-deals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2024: the return of big-ticket deals - Public Trends 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Public M&amp;A activity was sporadic in 2024, slowing down over the Summer \u2013 a predictable consequence of elections in the UK and US \u2013 but then ramping up again in the final weeks of 2024. 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