Takeover boom pushes City advisory fees above £1bn
Investment banks, law firms and accountants advising on mergers involving UK-listed companies collected more than £1.2bn in fees this year, according to official filings analysed in a Guardian report. The value of such deals rose 175% to $132.9bn, as private equity and overseas buyers targeted British companies.
Investment bankers, lawyers and accountants in London have earned more than £1bn from a surge in takeovers involving UK-listed companies this year, according to a Guardian analysis of official filings. The value of mergers and acquisitions involving UK-listed companies rose 175% in 2026 to $132.9bn (£100bn), according to the London Stock Exchange. Fees paid to advisers exceeded £1.2bn, the analysis found.
The activity has been driven by private equity money and American buyers seeking British companies considered undervalued. JPMorgan advised on 14 UK-related takeovers worth a combined $89.4bn, making it the busiest bank in the LSE data. Slaughter and May was the leading law firm.
The £10.6bn takeover of testing group Intertek by EQT was the year’s most lucrative deal, expected to generate more than £370m in fees. The deal involves Morgan Stanley, Barclays and Deutsche Bank for EQT, and Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Cazenove and PJT Partners for Intertek. The reported total excludes some transactions that did not complete, were rejected or lacked published documents.
It also does not include the reported £5.7bn takeover of easyJet by Apollo Global Management, agreed last month. The boom has intensified scrutiny of City pay during the UK’s cost-of-living crisis. Partners at Linklaters and Clifford Chance received average pay of £2.5m and £2.3m respectively in the year to April, while A&O Shearman partners received £2.2m on average.
Evercore’s best-paid member received £16.2m. Trade union representatives criticised high financial-sector rewards and called for greater taxation of lenders. The surge also coincides with concerns about London’s stock market: only seven listings raised £577m in the first half of 2026, according to EY.
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