Monthly Mergers and Acquisitions round up – July 2016

The second half of 2016 got off to an active start in terms of UK Mergers and Acquisitions as 307 deals were completed and announced, according to company deals database, Zephyr.

Following talks in May which indicated that a merger between bookmakers Ladbrokes PLC and Gala Coral Group Ltd was in the pipeline, a £2.3bn deal has been announced which will see the fcompletion of an all-share merger.

With talks that the deal could complete as early as the first week of August, the merger is likely to be subject to inspection from the Competition and Markets Authority, with the regulator previously preventing the two from joining forces almost two decades ago. In order to meet a conditional approval, as many as 400 shops may have to be offloaded, with the joining of the UK’s second and third largest bookmakers likely to restrict competition on the High Street.

The combined group would make it the biggest player in the market, leapfrogging current leader, William Hill, in the process.

Along with a high volume of deals, July was also a month which saw some particularly high value deals, with Macdermind Performance Acquisitions Ltd completing a deal for Alent PLC for a reported £1.35bn and Delphi Automotive PLC completing the acquisition of Hellermanntyton Group PLC for a value in excess of £1.07bn.