UK Inward Mergers and Acquisitions Value Rises 61.8 Percent to 25.4 Billion Pounds in the Second Quarter
The value of completed foreign acquisitions of United Kingdom companies reached 25.4 billion pounds in the second quarter of 2026, up from 15.7 billion pounds in the first quarter, a rise of 61.8 percent on our calculation, according to the Office for National Statistics, even as the overall number of merger and acquisition transactions involving UK companies fell.
Deal Values Rose While Deal Counts Fell
The statistics office recorded 353 UK merger and acquisition transactions of all types in the second quarter, down from 407 in the first quarter. Within that total, inward transactions, meaning foreign companies acquiring UK businesses, numbered 162, down from 183, while their combined value rose to 25.4 billion pounds from 15.7 billion pounds. Domestic transactions, UK companies acquiring other UK companies, numbered 130, down from 142, while their value rose to 4.2 billion pounds from 1.8 billion pounds, an increase of 133.3 percent on our calculation. Outward transactions, UK companies acquiring foreign businesses, numbered 61, down from 82, and their value fell to 2.7 billion pounds from 4.1 billion pounds, a decrease of 34.1 percent on our calculation.
| Deal type | Q2 2026 | Q1 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inward, value | £25.4bn | £15.7bn | +61.8% |
| Domestic, value | £4.2bn | £1.8bn | +133.3% |
| Outward, value | £2.7bn | £4.1bn | -34.1% |
UK merger and acquisition transaction values by type, Office for National Statistics, second and first quarter 2026. Change figures are on our calculation, by percentage change from the first quarter figure.
On our calculation, inward acquisitions averaged about 156.8 million pounds per deal in the second quarter, 25.4 billion pounds across 162 transactions, up from about 85.8 million pounds per deal in the first quarter, 15.7 billion pounds across 183 transactions, an increase of roughly 83 percent in average deal size even before accounting for the drop in deal count. Domestic transactions moved the same way: 4.2 billion pounds across 130 deals works out to about 32.3 million pounds per deal, more than double the roughly 12.7 million pounds per deal implied by the first quarter’s 1.8 billion pounds across 142 deals, on our calculation. Outward acquisitions fell on both measures.
Measured against the second quarter of 2025, when inward acquisitions totaled 9.7 billion pounds across 203 transactions, the latest reading is up 161.9 percent in value year on year even as the deal count fell, on our calculation. The statistics office itself notes that the elevated inward total reflects concentration rather than breadth: it said the high total values of inward mergers and acquisitions in the second quarter of 2026, as in a few earlier quarters, included a few large acquisitions each valued at more than 1 billion pounds.
Named transactions in the release included France’s Engie acquiring UK Network Holdings, the United States’ Eli Lilly acquiring Centessa Pharmaceuticals, Centrica acquiring Severn Power domestically, and GSK acquiring 35Pharma, a Canadian company, an outward transaction.
A Separate Release Shows 14.4 Percent of UK Households Workless
A separate bulletin, covering April to June 2026 and based on the Labour Force Survey, found that of the United Kingdom’s 22.02 million households containing at least one member aged 16 to 64, 59.7 percent had every member in employment, 25.9 percent were mixed households with at least one working and one workless adult, and 14.4 percent were workless households with no member in employment. On our calculation, 14.4 percent of 22.02 million households is roughly 3.17 million workless households, and the workless and mixed shares together mean 40.3 percent of UK households had at least one working age adult who was not in employment during the quarter. All 3 shares were unchanged from the first quarter of 2026, when the same bulletin series reported 59.7 percent working, 25.9 percent mixed and 14.4 percent workless households out of an estimated 21.99 million qualifying households, so only the household total, not the underlying shares, moved between the 2 quarters. The bulletin describes its estimates as not seasonally adjusted and based on population weights still linked to estimates published in November 2023, and it cautions against drawing conclusions from short term movements.
Why It Matters
The two releases describe different parts of the same economy in the same window. The mergers and acquisitions figures show a sharp rise in the value of completed foreign acquisitions despite fewer transactions, meaning activity became substantially more concentrated in larger deals rather than proof of broad based investor appetite on their own. The household data show that, over the same quarter, a sizeable minority of UK households had no member in paid work, and that share held steady from the first quarter, a structural feature of the labour market that moves independently of transaction activity in the corporate sector.
Outlook
The statistics office’s next quarterly release on mergers and acquisitions, covering July to September 2026, is due 1 December 2026, and its next update on working and workless households is due 2 December 2026.
Sources: Office for National Statistics.
