City advisers earn over £1bn as UK takeover deals surge 175%
The value of mergers and acquisitions involving UK-listed companies climbed 175% in 2026 to $132.9bn (£100bn), and the advisory fees attached to those deals have topped £1.2bn for the year, according to The Guardian.
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The value of mergers and acquisitions involving UK-listed companies climbed 175% in 2026 to $132.9bn (£100bn), and the advisory fees attached to those deals have topped £1.2bn for the year, according to The Guardian. That figure, drawn from official filings, captures payments to investment bankers, lawyers and accountants working on UK takeover mandates.
The Guardian reported that the wave has been driven by private equity money and American buyers targeting British businesses that they regard as undervalued, prompting concern about the shrinking pipeline of companies left on the London stock market.
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Key facts
- M&A of UK-listed companies rose 175% in 2026 to $132.9bn (£100bn), per the London Stock Exchange.
- Advisory fees to bankers, lawyers and accountants surpassed £1.2bn.
- JP Morgan advised on 14 deals worth a combined $89.4bn (£67.6bn), the busiest of any bank; Slaughter and May led the law firm rankings.
- Partners at Linklaters and Clifford Chance were paid an average of £2.5m and £2.3m in the year to April, their highest ever, while A&O Shearman partners averaged £2.2m.
- The largest single deal was EQT’s £10.6bn purchase of the lab-testing group Intertek, expected to generate more than £370m in fees.
Where the money landed
The fee pool reflects a handful of very large transactions rather than broad-based activity. On Intertek, EQT is being advised by Morgan Stanley, Barclays and Deutsche Bank, while the target has retained Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Cazenove and PJT Partners.
Boutique firms have benefited too. Evercore, said to have advised on five UK stock market deals this year, paid senior managing directors about £2m on average, with its best-paid member receiving £16.2m.
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Law firm pay has pulled ahead of some banking roles. The averages at Linklaters, Clifford Chance and A&O Shearman mark record levels, and the gap reflects the scale of fees on large takeovers. Bonus ceilings are no longer set nationally: the government dropped the two-times-salary cap in late 2023, letting each bank choose its own limit. Goldman Sachs now allows top performers to be paid as much as 25 times salary.
The figures are a floor rather than a ceiling. Deals that fell through, were rejected, or have not had documents published are excluded — among them Apollo Global Management’s £5.7bn agreement to buy the FTSE 100 airline easyJet, struck last month.
Why it matters
Advisory pay is rising while the London market shrinks. Only seven companies listed in the first half of 2026, raising £577m in total according to EY, and banks face losing sell-side research and flotation revenue as more firms leave the exchange. Meanwhile millions of households are still absorbing cost-of-living pressure, and UK Finance has joined JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon in pushing back against higher bank taxes ahead of the 28 October budget.
What to watch
Attention now turns to the budget on 28 October, where the chancellor will decide whether to raise taxes on lenders that currently pay a 28% corporation tax rate plus a balance-sheet surcharge. Airtel Money’s planned UK listing, which would be one of the largest in years, is the next test of whether London can attract new companies rather than only losing them.
Source: The Guardian
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