Paul, Weiss partners Matthew Hearn, David Holdsworth, Nicole Kar, Lauren O’Brien and Dan Schuster-Woldan were featured as expert contributors in the LexisNexis Market Standards “Market Standards Trend Report: Trends in UK Public M&A Deals in 2025,” a semi-annual comprehensive analysis of UK public M&A activity. The partners discussed the various factors that contributed to a significant variance in UK public M&A activity, the continued importance of international corporate bidders and financial sponsors amidst elevated capital levels, key regulatory trends impacting UK public M&A transactions in 2025, and expectations for 2026.
UK public M&A lost momentum toward the later part of the year after a significant pick-up in activity in Q2 and Q3, notably quieting down in the top-end of the market, Dan says. However, “high levels of interest shown by international bidders indicate that many still find UK targets attractive amidst continuing perceived undervaluation by the London public markets and the resulting desire of international bidders to capitalize on this.”
Matt notes that financial sponsors remained very active in UK public M&A throughout 2025, with both sponsors and strategic bidders actively competing for desirable assets. However, “stronger competition for quality assets … and increasingly robust target boards … on valuations, may mean richer valuations and higher premias will be required to win board recommendations and, crucially, shareholder support.”
Citing improved business clarity, stable financing, favorable regulatory signals and sustained interest from both strategic and international bidders, David anticipates a rebound in UK public M&A activity in 2026. “The U.S. remains the market where corporates with the largest balance sheets and sponsors with the most capital to deploy are based so we do not expect that this trend will abate anytime soon,” David says.
Finally, on key regulatory trends, Nicole notes that, as a result of the approach taken by antitrust and foreign direct investment regulators globally, “bidders will need to front load their filing analysis (and, where required, remedy design), and obligations to minimise completion risk … will continue to be a key focus for the target board in assessing an offer.”
Commenting on the UK Competition and Markets Authority specifically, Lauren notes that the CMA “is undoubtedly stepping back in global deals where there is no particular UK nexus and where foreign reviews are likely to address UK concerns,” adding that, “where there is a UK nexus in a global deal, however, the CMA may still take a close interest.”
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