Ken Wotton: Three sectors likely to benefit from UK takeover boom

M&A activity highest ever

Since Brexit, the UK has sustained an elevated level of M&A transactions – jumping from less than 1,000 deals per year to more than 1,500 in 2018, then breaching the 2,000 mark in 2021.

Although activity dipped slightly in 2022 due to geopolitical concerns, and later in light of rising interest rates, dealmaking has restarted in earnest, with the first quarter of 2023 witnessing 356 deals of more than $1m in value. Treasury faces £150bn bill over BoE QE losses Due to prevailing sentiment around the UK economy, many companies with attractive fundamentals have been unfairly derated in recent years. As a result, corporate and private equity buyers - sitting on considerable dry powder - are being drawn to certain segments of the listed market trading at valuation multipl...