UK M&A activity: UK M&A Activity Statistics
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.
2 of the 6 named sources read in full publish a figure; 5 publish none, read 28 October 2026.
By period
| Breakdown | Median | Range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| period2026 Q1, outward, value | 4,700,000,000GBP | 4,700,000,000 to 4,700,000,000GBP | 1 |
| period2026 Q1, inward, value | 14,200,000,000GBP | 14,200,000,000 to 14,200,000,000GBP | 1 |
| period2026 Q1, domestic, value | 1,500,000,000GBP | 1,500,000,000 to 1,500,000,000GBP | 1 |
| periodJanuary 2026, outward, number of deals | 29transactions | 29 to 29transactions | 1 |
| periodJanuary 2026, inward, number of deals | 69acquisitions | 69 to 69acquisitions | 1 |
| periodJanuary 2026, domestic, number of deals | 48transactions | 48 to 48transactions | 1 |
| period2026 Q1, outward, number of deals | 72completed | 72 to 72completed | 1 |
| period2026 Q1, inward, number of deals | 163inward | 163 to 163inward | 1 |
| period2026 Q1, domestic, number of deals | 117domestic | 117 to 117domestic | 1 |
| period2026 Q2, inward, value | 25,400,000,000GBP | 25,400,000,000 to 25,400,000,000GBP | 1 |
| period2026 Q2, domestic, value | 4,200,000,000GBP | 4,200,000,000 to 4,200,000,000GBP | 1 |
| period2026 Q2, outward, value | 2,700,000,000GBP | 2,700,000,000 to 2,700,000,000GBP | 1 |
| periodApril 2026, inward, number of deals | 61acquisitions | 61 to 61acquisitions | 1 |
| periodApril 2026, domestic, number of deals | 55transactions | 55 to 55transactions | 1 |
| periodApril 2026, outward, number of deals | 23transactions | 23 to 23transactions | 1 |
| period2026 Q2, inward, number of deals | 162completed | 162 to 162completed | 1 |
| period2026 Q2, domestic, number of deals | 130domestic | 130 to 130domestic | 1 |
| period2026 Q2, outward, number of deals | 61outward | 61 to 61outward | 1 |
Every figure, with its source
One row per published figure: the figure as the source's own page publishes it, the page, and the day it was read. A figure that is not on a page we read is not on this one.
| Source | Figure | Breakdown | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026 | 25,400,000,000GBP | 2026 Q2, inward, value | 2026-10-28 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026 | 14,200,000,000GBP | 2026 Q1, inward, value | 2026-09-15 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026 | 4,700,000,000GBP | 2026 Q1, outward, value | 2026-09-15 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026 | 4,200,000,000GBP | 2026 Q2, domestic, value | 2026-10-28 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026 | 2,700,000,000GBP | 2026 Q2, outward, value | 2026-10-28 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026 | 1,500,000,000GBP | 2026 Q1, domestic, value | 2026-09-15 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026 | 163inward | 2026 Q1, inward, number of deals | 2026-09-15 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026 | 162completed | 2026 Q2, inward, number of deals | 2026-10-28 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026 | 130domestic | 2026 Q2, domestic, number of deals | 2026-10-28 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026 | 117domestic | 2026 Q1, domestic, number of deals | 2026-09-15 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026 | 72completed | 2026 Q1, outward, number of deals | 2026-09-15 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026 | 69acquisitions | January 2026, inward, number of deals | 2026-09-15 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026 | 61acquisitions | April 2026, inward, number of deals | 2026-10-28 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026 | 61outward | 2026 Q2, outward, number of deals | 2026-10-28 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026 | 55transactions | April 2026, domestic, number of deals | 2026-10-28 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026 | 48transactions | January 2026, domestic, number of deals | 2026-09-15 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026 | 29transactions | January 2026, outward, number of deals | 2026-09-15 |
| ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026 | 23transactions | April 2026, outward, number of deals | 2026-10-28 |
The sentence each figure was read from (18)
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026, read 2026-10-28:
The value of inward M&A (foreign companies acquiring UK companies) was £25.4 billion during Quarter 2 2026, £9.7 billion more than in Quarter 1 2026 (£15.7 billion).
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026, read 2026-09-15:
The value of inward M&A (foreign companies acquiring UK companies) was £14.2 billion during Quarter 1 2026, £18.8 billion lower than in Quarter 4 2025 (£33.0 billion).
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026, read 2026-09-15:
The value of outward M&A (UK companies acquiring foreign companies) involving a change in majority share ownership was £4.7 billion during Quarter 1 2026, £1.7 billion more than in Quarter 4 2025 (£3.0 billion).
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026, read 2026-10-28:
The value of domestic M&A (UK companies acquiring other UK companies) was £4.2 billion in Quarter 2 2026, £2.4 billion higher than in Quarter 1 2026, when it was £1.8 billion.
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026, read 2026-10-28:
During Quarter 2 2026, the value of outward M&A (UK companies acquiring foreign companies) involving a change in majority share ownership was £2.7 billion, £1.4 billion less than in the previous quarter, when it was £4.1 billion.
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026, read 2026-09-15:
The value of domestic M&A (UK companies acquiring other UK companies) was £1.5 billion in Quarter 1 2026, £0.4 billion lower than in Quarter 4 2025 (£1.9 billion).
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026, read 2026-09-15:
There were an estimated 163 inward acquisitions involving a change in majority share ownership in Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2026.
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026, read 2026-10-28:
There were an estimated 162 completed inward M&A transactions involving a change in majority share ownership in Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2026, 21 fewer than in the previous quarter (183) and 41 less than in Quarter 2 2025 (203).
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026, read 2026-10-28:
There were an estimated 130 domestic acquisitions involving a change in majority share ownership in Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2026.
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026, read 2026-09-15:
There were an estimated 117 domestic M&A deals during Quarter 1 2026.
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026, read 2026-09-15:
There were an estimated 72 completed outward M&A transactions involving a change in majority share ownership in Quarter 1 2026, 12 less than in the previous quarter (84) and one more than in Quarter 1 2025 (71).
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026, read 2026-09-15:
Inward monthly M&A saw 69 acquisitions in January, decreasing to 45 during February and then rising to 49 in March.
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026, read 2026-10-28:
Inward monthly M&A saw 61 acquisitions in April, decreasing to 45 during May before increasing to 56 in June 2026.
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026, read 2026-10-28:
There were an estimated 61 outward M&A deals during Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2026.
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026, read 2026-10-28:
Domestic monthly M&A saw 55 transactions in April decreasing to 36 during May but rising to 39 in June 2026.
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026, read 2026-09-15:
Domestic monthly M&A saw 48 transactions in January, decreasing slightly to 43 during February before falling to 26 in March.
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026, read 2026-09-15:
Outward monthly M&A saw 29 transactions in January 2026, falling to 18 in February and then rising to 25 in March.
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026, read 2026-10-28:
Outward monthly M&A saw 23 transactions in April, falling to 21 in May and again to 17 in June 2026.
Read in full, publishes no figure
5 named sources were read in full on the dates shown and print no usable figure. They are counted, never filled in.
- ONS M&A dataset, read 2026-10-28: every candidate on the page was refused
- ONS M&A time series release, Jan-Mar 2026, read 2026-10-28: every candidate on the page was refused
- ICAEW: Bolting on, read 2026-10-28: every candidate on the page was refused
- ICAEW: An exploration of buy and builds, read 2026-10-28: every candidate on the page was refused
- Stevens & Bolton: Buy-and-Build M&A in the UK mid-market, read 2026-10-28: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
Methodology
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 6 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 5 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 2 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
105 candidate sentences on these pages were refused by a reviewer; each refusal and its reason is recorded in the review ledger.
Sources (8)
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Apr-Jun 2026(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ONS M&A involving UK companies, Jan-Mar 2026(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ONS M&A topic page(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ONS M&A dataset(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ONS M&A time series release, Jan-Mar 2026(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ICAEW: Bolting on(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- ICAEW: An exploration of buy and builds(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Stevens & Bolton: Buy-and-Build M&A in the UK mid-market(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
Cite or embed this figure
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.
2 of the 6 named sources read in full publish a figure; 5 publish none, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period 2026 Q1, outward, value: median 4,700,000,000 GBP across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period 2026 Q1, inward, value: median 14,200,000,000 GBP across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period 2026 Q1, domestic, value: median 1,500,000,000 GBP across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period January 2026, outward, number of deals: median 29 transactions across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period January 2026, inward, number of deals: median 69 acquisitions across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period January 2026, domestic, number of deals: median 48 transactions across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period 2026 Q1, outward, number of deals: median 72 completed across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period 2026 Q1, inward, number of deals: median 163 inward across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period 2026 Q1, domestic, number of deals: median 117 domestic across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period 2026 Q2, inward, value: median 25,400,000,000 GBP across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period 2026 Q2, domestic, value: median 4,200,000,000 GBP across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period 2026 Q2, outward, value: median 2,700,000,000 GBP across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period April 2026, inward, number of deals: median 61 acquisitions across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period April 2026, domestic, number of deals: median 55 transactions across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period April 2026, outward, number of deals: median 23 transactions across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period 2026 Q2, inward, number of deals: median 162 completed across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period 2026 Q2, domestic, number of deals: median 130 domestic across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
UK M&A Activity Statistics, period 2026 Q2, outward, number of deals: median 61 outward across 1 source, read 28 October 2026.
Cite as: "whoboughtwhom.co.uk UK M&A Activity Statistics", updated 2026-10-29, https://whoboughtwhom.co.uk/datasets/uk-ma-activity-statistics/.
Download the CSV (18 rows, computed 2026-10-29)