A rush of foreign bids for UK companies has put Britain on track to outstrip all previous records for dealmaking in 2026, with the total ​value of offers for the country’s companies rising 210 per cent from this time last year to more than $231 ‌billion so far.

Bids for Britain’s Intertek (ITRK.L), Schroders (SDR.L) and Unilever’s (ULVR.L) food unit are among the top deals this year, as well as US-listed Ingredion’s (INGR.N) offer for Tate & Lyle (TATE.L) in June.

Intertek’s board agreed last month a £9.4 billion ($12.7 billion) takeover by private equity group EQT, Britain’s largest private-equity takeover since ​the 2007 acquisition of healthcare group Alliance Boots, according to LSEG data.

One of the drivers of UK dealmaking has ​been cheap shares: the FTSE 100 has been trading at a discount to European and ⁠US stock markets.

British stocks have become cheaper compared to US stocks since the start of the Iran war, even ​if they are not as good value as they were in 2024.

“We are continuing to see opportunistic, strategic consolidation, with ​clients pursuing large and complex deals that move the needle and which will make a material difference to their business,” said Dominic Ross, partner at Clifford Chance.

A PREDICTABLE MARKET

Another reason bidders are targeting the UK is the country’s predictable landscape for takeovers.

“The UK is a ​tried and tested market,” Ross said. The $231 billion of deals involving a UK target at this point in the ​year has only been exceeded once before since LSEG records began in 1980. It is 210 per cent more than the amount recorded this ‌time ⁠last year and close to the $194 billion total recorded for the whole of 2025.

By value, UK-targeted M&A accounts for more than 8 per cent of total global M&A announcements so far this year, the highest year-to-date share since 2015.

This year’s UK M&A figure is driven by foreign takeovers, which total more than $197 billion, the highest year-to-date total since records began in ​1980, LSEG said.

US bidders accounted ​for more than half of ⁠the foreign takeovers of UK targets in the year to date, according to the data.

“Much of the activity we are seeing is inbound into the UK from the US, ​perhaps due to the continued perception that UK-listed stocks are relatively cheaper,” Ross added.

Foreign ​takeovers of UK ⁠targets accounted for 86 per cent of all UK M&A by value so far this year, compared with 75 per cent last year at this time and an all-time high.

To be sure, as a percentage of UK GDP, M&A is still a smaller proportion than ⁠at previous ​dealmaking peaks.

Back in 2000, M&A accounted for 26 per cent of UK GDP according ​to data by LSEG and the Office for National Statistics. In 2025, it accounted for 5 per cent and in the first quarter of 2026 that ​jumped to 14 per cent.