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February 2026 - Reports

Insights into UK Public M&A activity

Our January UK Public M&A Update – a concise monthly summary highlighting key trends and activity within the UK public M&A market.

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Public M&A continues to be an area of significant interest for PLC boards, especially in the context of UK equity market valuations, buyside fund flows, and defence preparedness. Our review provides readers with an informed snapshot of current deal activity and emerging themes shaping the market.

Key highlights this month:

January 2026 has seen elevated UK public M&A activity, with nine new bid situations across the market cap spectrum. January ended with the number of companies in an Offer Period ahead of the five-year average.
UK smaller companies continue to be attractive targets, with nearly three-quarters of companies in an Offer Period having an undisturbed market capitalisation below £500m.
Overseas bidders continue to drive the majority of UK PLC M&A activity, accounting for 65% of bidders in January 2026, whilst last month saw a step-up in approaches from Private Equity firms, which now represent 40% of named bidders.
Shareholder opposition saw several public M&A deals abandoned in Q4 2025, and this theme continued in January with shareholders in TT Electronics voting down Cicor’s recommended offer.
As we flagged last month, fund managers have been expecting continued bidder interest in the UK small cap arena, with equity performance having lagged larger cap indices and recent deal activity demonstrating the willingness of trade and PE buyers, both domestic and international, to pay a premium to acquire high quality UK listed companies.
With UK equities posting solid gains in January, and indices hitting new all-time highs, it will be interesting to see whether the current Public M&A dynamic persists over the months ahead.

Download the January Report

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