Mergers and acquisitions involving UK companies: October to December 2024

• The provisional combined number of domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) involving a change in majority share ownership was 402 during Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2024; this was 62 fewer than during Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2024 (464).

• There were an estimated 186 monthly domestic and cross-border acquisitions involving a change in majority share ownership during October 2024, before falling to 151 in November and declining further to 65 during December 2024.

• The value of domestic M&A (UK companies acquiring other UK companies) was £8.6 billion during Quarter 4 2024, an increase of £6.7 billion compared with Quarter 3 2024 (£1.9 billion).

• The value of outward M&A (UK companies acquiring foreign companies) was £1.4 billion in Quarter 4 2024, £2.5 billion lower than in the previous quarter (£3.9 billion).

• Inward M&A (foreign companies acquiring UK companies) was £4.5 billion in Quarter 4 2024, £5.9 billion less than the value in Quarter 3 2024 (£10.4 billion).

• For the first time, we have produced domestic and cross-border M&A datasets by industry for the years 2019 to 2024; these are available in the datasets accompanying this bulletin.

The provisional combined number of monthly domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) saw a notable decrease between October (186) and November (151). This figure declined further during December 2024, where 65 transactions were recorded.

Domestic monthly M&A recorded 92 transactions in October 2024. This decreased to 78 during November, and to 32 in December 2024.

The number of outward monthly M&A saw a small decrease between October (30) and November (26), before declining further to 11 acquisitions in December 2024.

Inward monthly M&A saw 64 acquisitions in October, decreasing to 47 in November and 22 in December 2024.

The Bank of England summary of business conditions for Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2024 reported that "Investment intentions remain subdued, with a marginal balance towards increasing investment in the coming year. Many contacts express a general sense of uncertainty and caution driven by a mix of factors, such as uncertainty about demand, high borrowing costs, higher capital expenditure costs, squeezed margins and access to finance. There was limited reference to the Budget having a direct impact on investment plans at this stage"

The same report stated that: "the supply of credit is tighter than pre-pandemic for small firms but seems not to be a concern for large firms. High interest rates and weak activity continue to supress overall demand for credit. Banks continue to compete to lend to the most creditworthy firms and their appetite to lend to sectors previously considered vulnerable is increasing. Small and medium sized firms find secondary lenders easier to access as many cannot meet major banks' credit criteria. Start-up and early-stage companies continue to struggle to source growth finance".

The provisional value of domestic mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of UK companies acquiring other UK companies during Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2024 was £8.6 billion. This was an increase of £6.7 billion, compared with Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2024 (£1.9 billion), and £3.7 billion more than in Quarter 4 2023 (£3.0 billion). The value of domestic M&A for Quarter 4 2024 is at its highest since Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2021 (£17.9 billion).

Two notable domestic acquisitions, which completed in Quarter 4 2024 were:

• Virgin Money UK Plc, which was acquired by Nationwide Building Society

• Redrow Plc, which was acquired by Barratt Developments Plc

Number of quarterly domestic mergers and acquisitions transactions involving UK companies

There were an estimated 202 completed domestic M&A transactions involving a change in majority share ownership in Quarter 4 2024. This is broadly consistent with the figures for Quarter 3 2024 (201) and Quarter 4 2023 (207). 

The provisional estimated value of outward mergers and acquisitions (M&A) (UK companies acquiring foreign companies) was £1.4 billion in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2024, £2.5 billion lower than in the previous quarter (£3.9 billion), and £2.1 billion lower than in Quarter 4 2023 (£3.5 billion).The value of outward M&A during Quarter 4 2024 (£1.4 billion) is at its lowest since Quarter 3 2013 when it was £0.5 billion.

Number of quarterly outward mergers and acquisitions transactions involving UK companies

There were an estimated 67 outward acquisitions involving a change in majority share ownership in Quarter 4 2024. This was three fewer than in the previous quarter (70) and one more than in Quarter 4 2023 (66).

The provisional estimated value of inward mergers and acquisitions (M&A) (foreign companies acquiring UK companies) in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2024 was £4.5 billion. This was £5.9 billion less than the value reported for the previous quarter (£10.4 billion), and £5.6 billion less than Quarter 4 2023 (£10.1 billion).

Number of quarterly inward mergers and acquisitions transactions involving UK companies

There were an estimated 133 inward M&A during Quarter 4 2024. This was 60 fewer than Quarter 3 2024 (193) and 38 fewer than Quarter 4 2023 (171).

Domestic mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of UK resident companies acquiring other UK resident companies.

Inward mergers and acquisitions

Mergers, acquisitions and disposals of UK resident companies by foreign companies.

Outward mergers and acquisitions

Mergers, acquisitions and disposals of foreign companies abroad by UK resident companies.

Mergers and acquisitions transactions

M&As occur when one company takes control of another company. The internationally agreed definition of an M&A deal is when one company gains more than 50% of the ordinary shares (or voting rights) of the acquired company.

Disinvestments (disposal transactions)

Disinvestment, or disposal transactions, refers to a disposal of the ordinary share ownership of a subsidiary company.

Since Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2018, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) statistics fully incorporate the Bureau van Dijk (BVD) M&A, which has been renamed Moody's Orbis M&A, data source and methods. The introduction of this new data source increased the coverage of smaller M&A transactions. This resulted in a discontinuity in the number of transactions reported. Users are advised to take care when comparing recent estimates with the number of transactions reported for quarters before 2018.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 and in response, the UK government has imposed a range of economic sanctions on Russia from late February and early March 2022, as described in the Russia sanctions: guidance on GOV.UK. We will continue to monitor potential impact of the conflict and resulting sanctions in future quarterly releases.

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Mergers and acquisitions Quality and methodology information (QMI).

About Office for National Statistics datasets

The datasets for mergers and acquisitions involving UK companies have recently been reviewed to ensure that they meet the accessibility standards outlined in the Government Statistical Service (GSS) guidance on releasing statistics in spreadsheets. This is to ensure that all GSS outputs meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, a legal requirement set out in The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

We welcome any feedback on these changes. Please share your feedback by emailing MA@ons.gov.uk.

Accredited official statistics

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in June 2013. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled "accredited official statistics".

Strengths and limitations

We produce statistics on the number and value of M&A transactions. This information is presented so that:

• transactions are only recorded in our statistics once the deal has been legally completed (each transaction has a value of at least £1 million)

• the transactions result in a change of ultimate control of the target company

• all values are in current prices, and therefore have not been adjusted for the effects of inflation

These are among the main reasons our M&A statistics can differ from those reported in other sources. There can be a substantial time gap between the point at which a deal is announced and when it is legally completed. In addition, in some cases, announced M&A deals do not take place.

Our statistics on disposals (or de-mergers) are also included in tables alongside this bulletin. These are typically fewer in number per quarter, which can lead to greater suppression of statistics to limit disclosure. The focus of this bulletin is on acquisitions, although some of the more complex deals can include the disposal of some part of the newly created corporate structure.

It is sometimes necessary to suppress figures for certain items to avoid disclosing information about an individual business. Further information on why statistics are suppressed is available in our Disclosure Control Policy.

It is not uncommon for the value of M&A transactions to vary considerably from one quarter to the next. This mainly reflects the nature of M&A activity in that these capture one-off deals. Therefore, if a particularly high-value M&A deal completes in a given quarter, it can make that quarter seem out of line with those that precede and follow it.

The volatility of M&A transactions also makes it difficult to link M&A statistics with other economic indicators, such as gross domestic product, or global events because of the time it can take between announcing and completing the M&A deal. Therefore, it can be more informative to look at longer-term trends within M&A statistics rather than focusing on quarterly movements.

Details of any notable M&A deals that completed in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2024 can be found in Sections 3, 4 and 5 of this statistical bulletin. Lists of notable completed M&As valued above £100 million and which took place in earlier quarters, can be found in our previous bulletins.