UK jumps to fifth for M&A attractiveness globally
The UK has been ranked fifth for the most attractive destination for merger and acquisition (M&A) investors internationally, beating out all but Germany across Europe.
The UK climbed two spaces from last year with an index score of 71 per cent, compared to the top US score of 78 per cent, according to the latest report from Bayes Business School’s Mergers and Acquisitions Research Centre.
The index assesses countries against 19 indicators grouped in six categories, ranging from ‘Regulatory and Political’ to ‘Infrastructure and Assets’.
The US came in first as it did last year, while second place went to Singapore, third place to Germany, with Canada in fourth place.
“With three prime ministers in 2022 and high inflation coming on top of Brexit, the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the M&A environment in the UK appears to be remarkably robust,” said Naaguesh Appadu, senior research fellow at Bayes.
“When the UK finally left the EU in January 2020, the country’s M&A landscape did change. After record-breaking activity in 2021 due to Covid, the market cooled in 2022.
“The UK M&A market remains fragile but the pound’s depreciation against other major currencies and the decline of the share price of UK-based companies boosted inbound M&A activity.”
The infrastructure and assets sector was identified as the greatest market opportunity for the UK, while socioeconomic issues like ageing populations were selected as the greatest challenge for British markets.
Looking further down the ranking, and China has fallen three places to 23rd since last year, while India fell out of the top 50, sliding five places to 52nd.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands surged four places to seventh, while France jumped six spots to ninth.