Public M&A activity has remained resilient against a backdrop of challenging economic and geopolitical conditions, and despite the green shoots of a resurgent IPO market in H2 (with the IPOs of Shawbrook, Beauty Tech and Princes), the number of UK-listed companies continued its now annual decline in 2025.
We continue to see significant interest from both PE and trade buyers of UK plcs, and although there were only three firm offers in January 2026, there were numerous possible offers including the announcement of three strategic reviews. We therefore expect another strong year of deals in 2026, including continued consolidation in the real estate sector and announcement of strategic reviews.
Public companies with a market cap below £500 million are likely to remain of interest to overseas buyers. Further, boards of smaller listed companies are likely to continue to look for de-listing opportunities which save the business the cost of being a UK plc and provide growth opportunities through the deployment of capital of new private owners.
On the other hand, as good companies continue to leave the market, institutional shareholders may resist opportunistic valuations harder.
Changes to the UK public offers and admissions to trading regime in January 2026 have made it easier for listed companies to issue shares without the need for a prospectus, allowing them better access to share capital for offer consideration purposes. Together with the removal of the requirement for shareholder approval for Class 1 transactions in 2024, this supports the ability of strategic buyers to launch larger transactions and may translate into further deal activity in 2026 and beyond.
