Who bought whom

Read October 2026

Who bought whom

The ONS counted 130 domestic acquisitions of UK companies in April to June 2026, worth £4.2 billion, beside 162 inward deals worth £25.4 billion and 61 outward. Each buyer of a UK company shows on Companies House as a new person with significant control. Tell Joseph Ellul what you want to buy and he replies himself.

Source: ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026

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UK M&A Activity Statistics

6 published prices from 2 providers' own pages, £1,500,000,000 to £25,400,000,000.

  1. ons.gov.uk £1,500,000,000 The value of domestic M&A (UK companies acquiring other UK companies) was £1.5…
  2. ons.gov.uk £2,700,000,000 During Quarter 2 2026, the value of outward M&A (UK companies acquiring foreign…
  3. ons.gov.uk £4,200,000,000 The value of domestic M&A (UK companies acquiring other UK companies) was £4.2…
  4. Median £4,450,000,000
  5. ons.gov.uk £4,700,000,000 The value of outward M&A (UK companies acquiring foreign companies) involving a…
  6. ons.gov.uk £14,200,000,000 The value of inward M&A (foreign companies acquiring UK companies) was £14.2…
  7. ons.gov.uk £25,400,000,000 The value of inward M&A (foreign companies acquiring UK companies) was £25.4…
2 of 8 providers read publish a price, read . Every price, with its source

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It changes the tax, the diligence and who takes on the liabilities. Not sure is a fine answer.

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  • Information only: no tax, legal or investment advice

UK M&A activity, quarter by quarter

Last updated

Every row is the ONS's own figure for a quarter and a direction of deal, read from its bulletin on the date shown. Domestic is a UK company buying a UK company, inward a foreign company buying a UK one, outward a UK company buying abroad. The ONS counts completed deals worth £1 million or more; nothing here is our estimate.

Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 2 of the 8 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 6 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source for each breakdown it prices, in GBP (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences for one breakdown), so a page that gives figures for several breakdowns gives one for each and N counts 6 figures, never sentences; 105 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): the ONS quarterly value and count of domestic, inward and outward deals as a series, beside the register's own count of small deals the ONS threshold (£1m) leaves out

Quarter and measureONS figureReadSource
2026 Q2, domestic, number of deals1302026-10-28 ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026
2026 Q2, domestic, value£4.2 billion2026-10-28 ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026
2026 Q2, inward, number of deals1622026-10-28 ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026
2026 Q2, inward, value£25.4 billion2026-10-28 ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026
2026 Q2, outward, number of deals612026-10-28 ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026
2026 Q2, outward, value£2.7 billion2026-10-28 ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026
2026 Q1, domestic, number of deals1172026-09-15 ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026
2026 Q1, domestic, value£1.5 billion2026-09-15 ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026
2026 Q1, inward, number of deals1632026-09-15 ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026
2026 Q1, inward, value£14.2 billion2026-09-15 ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026
2026 Q1, outward, number of deals722026-09-15 ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026
2026 Q1, outward, value£4.7 billion2026-09-15 ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026

Cite this page

“UK M&A activity, quarter by quarter”, Who bought whom, https://whoboughtwhom.co.uk/ (updated 2026-10-29). Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 2 of the 8 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 6 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source for each breakdown it prices, in GBP (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences for one breakdown), so a page that gives figures for several breakdowns gives one for each and N counts 6 figures, never sentences; 105 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): the ONS quarterly value and count of domestic, inward and outward deals as a series, beside the register's own count of small deals the ONS threshold (£1m) leaves out

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Every figure sourced and dated.

What happens next

  1. Tell us the sector, the area, the price range and whether you would buy the shares or the assets. Two minutes, no account.
  2. Joseph Ellul reads the brief himself. Nothing is passed to a broker, a panel or a marketing list.
  3. You get a reply about what a search for that brief involves. Ask questions, carry on, or do nothing.

This is a free information site run by Joseph Ellul. When you send a brief, he reads it and replies to you himself; it is not passed to any broker or firm, and you pay nothing to ask. The site carries no advertising, no sponsored placement and no affiliate links. Every figure is read from the named authority's or company's own public page on the date shown, and a buyer is named only from what it published itself. Nothing here is tax, legal, regulated or investment advice; check the source before you rely on a row.

The questions we get

How many UK companies are bought each quarter?

By the ONS count, 130 domestic acquisitions and 162 inward ones in April to June 2026, against 117 and 163 in January to March. That counts only completed deals worth £1 million or more.(ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026)

How do I find out who bought a UK company?

Look at the company's persons with significant control on Companies House. A buyer that takes control appears there as a new controller, holding more than 25% of the shares or votes, with the date it was notified.(People with significant control (PSCs) guidance)

What is a buy and build strategy?

Buying a platform business and then adding smaller businesses to it. ICAEW counted 241 UK mid-market bolt-on deals in the first half of 2022.(ICAEW: Bolting on)

Is this advice on a purchase?

No. This site gives information only, read from public records on the dates shown. It is not tax, legal or investment advice.(UK M&A Activity Statistics: every row, with its source)

Sources

This site's own dataset, every figure quoted from its source and dated:

  • The UK M&A Activity Statistics carries 6 published figures read from 2 sources' own pages, from 1,500,000,000 to 25,400,000,000 GBP, read 28 October 2026.
  1. ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026
  2. ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026
  3. People with significant control (PSCs) guidance
  4. Companies House streaming API: PSC stream
  5. Companies House PSC snapshot download
  6. Companies House advanced company search
  7. CMA cases: mergers
  8. CMA merger investigation outcomes
  9. Takeover Panel disclosure tables
  10. The Gazette: company notices
  11. ICAEW: Bolting on

The question this page is here to answer

How much UK M&A is happening each quarter, domestic, inward and outward, and is it rising?

Sector, area, price range and timing. Joseph Ellul reads it himself and replies directly. Free, no obligation.

Answered by Joseph Ellul, which reads every enquiry this page takes.

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