Sweden’s EQT has agreed terms on a recommended cash offer for FTSE 100 testing, inspection and certification group Intertek, valuing the British company’s equity at roughly £9.4 billion (about $12.4 billion) and topping £10.7 billion once net debt is included. The deal, announced on 18 June 2026, lands as one of the largest take-privates of a UK-listed company in 2026 and continues a wave of foreign private-equity bids that has driven UK M&A volumes well above $190 billion year-to-date, according to industry trackers cited by Reuters and Bloomberg.
For a fast-growing private-equity firm that has spent the last two cycles building expertise in regulated services and infrastructure-like businesses, Intertek is a textbook target: defensive recurring revenue, fragmented competition, global footprint, and an entrenched position in mandatory testing for everything from electronics to food safety. The bigger story sits one level up — Britain’s stock market is once again being picked over by deep-pocketed foreign buyers willing to pay full prices for cash-generative incumbents.
Deal terms at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Acquirer | EQT (Swedish private-equity firm) |
| Target | Intertek Group plc (LSE: ITRK) |
| Offer per share | £58 cash (recommended final offer) |
| Equity value | ~£9.4 billion (~$12.4 billion) |
| Enterprise value | ~£10.7–10.9 billion including net debt (~$14.5 billion) |
| Structure | UK scheme of arrangement under the Takeover Code |
| Announcement | 18 June 2026 (post-strategic review launched 14 April 2026) |
| Financial advisers | Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley advised Intertek; Citi advised EQT (per market reports) |
| Legal advisers | Freshfields and Slaughter and May for Intertek; Simpson Thacher for EQT |
EQT walked Intertek’s board up the price ladder over several rounds before landing at £58 a share. The shares, which had been trading near £49 before Intertek’s 14 April 2026 strategic review announcement opened the door to a sale, jumped on the news but traded just below the offer price — the standard pattern in UK schemes, where a small gap to terms reflects deal risk and timing rather than expectation of a bump.
Why private equity loves the testing business
Testing, inspection and certification — TIC, for short — is one of the most consistently bid-up corners of the global services market. Intertek belongs to a small club alongside Switzerland’s SGS, France’s Bureau Veritas, and Eurofins; together they dominate the regulated end of the industry. Three features keep PE buyers coming back:
- Mandated demand. Most TIC revenue is tied to regulation — toy safety, food contamination, building inspections, electrical certification, fuel quality. The work has to be done, and it is repeated cycle after cycle.
- Asset-light, high-margin. The business is people, accreditations, and lab space. Operating margins of 15–20% are typical, with free-cash-flow conversion that supports leverage.
- Bolt-on consolidation. Thousands of small, owner-managed labs sit beneath the big four. Every year EQT or peers can spend a portion of free cash flow rolling them up at single-digit multiples and integrating them at the parent’s mid-teens multiple — the classic multiple-arbitrage playbook.
That is why Intertek trades well above the market multiple even before a bid premium, and why EQT can model attractive returns at £58 when public markets had only just begun to re-rate the stock.
Britain on sale: the 2026 take-private wave
EQT’s bid lands in the middle of a year where UK M&A activity has surged to roughly $192 billion already — a pace not seen since 2021. Reuters’ tracking puts the Intertek deal among the largest private-equity-led take-privates of any UK-listed company on record, behind only a handful of pre-financial-crisis mega-deals and the recent CD&R/Morrisons grocery deal.
What is driving the deal flow? Three things. First, sterling remains cheap relative to dollar and euro buyers, lowering the effective entry price for cross-border acquirers. Second, FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 valuations sit well below US peers on most multiples, especially in services and consumer cyclicals. Third, private-equity dry powder is still abundant after a slow stretch for new deals in 2024–25; large funds need to put capital to work. Intertek fits all three: a sterling-denominated, fairly valued global business with assets the buyer thinks it can grow harder in private hands.
How a UK scheme of arrangement plays out
EQT chose the standard route for friendly UK takeovers: a scheme of arrangement, governed by the UK Takeover Code. The mechanics are well-worn:
- Rule 2.7 announcement. The firm offer is published, locking EQT into specific terms and a timetable.
- Scheme document. Within roughly 28 days, Intertek issues the formal scheme document with the board’s recommendation.
- Shareholder vote. A scheme requires support from 75% by value and a majority by number of shareholders voting at the court meeting — a higher bar than a 50%-plus-one general offer.
- Court sanction. The UK court must approve the scheme after the vote.
- Antitrust clearances. Because Intertek operates in dozens of countries, EQT will need approvals across the UK CMA, EU Commission, US authorities, and selected Asian regulators. Most pure-financial buyouts clear without remedies, but the global footprint adds calendar risk.
Realistic timing is four to six months to completion if antitrust is uneventful. Expect updates through the scheme document and the long-stop date disclosed in the formal offer.
What could derail the deal
The most obvious risk is an interloper. A trade buyer such as SGS or Bureau Veritas could in theory submit a higher bid, though both face their own antitrust constraints in TIC. A second financial sponsor is more plausible: CVC, Brookfield, and KKR have all looked at the sector before. A second risk is shareholder pushback if a major investor argues the £58 price undershoots Intertek’s mid-cycle earnings power, particularly given the firm’s growth in cybersecurity and sustainability assurance. A third risk — small but real — is political: a high-profile foreign buyout of a FTSE 100 services champion may attract National Security and Investment Act scrutiny, even if Intertek’s portfolio is mostly civilian.
Bottom line for investors
For arbitrageurs, the trade is narrow but clean: the gap between the market price and £58 reflects time-value and a small probability of break. For long-only public-equity investors, Intertek’s exit shrinks the FTSE 100’s already-thin roster of high-quality global-services compounders — a reminder of the structural drain that UK take-privates have become. And for capital-markets watchers, EQT-Intertek is the loudest data point yet that 2026 is shaping up as a record year for foreign buyers shopping in London.
Sources
- Reuters: “Intertek agreed to be taken over by EQT in £10.9 billion ($14.5 billion) deal including debt” (18–19 June 2026).
- Lawyer Monthly: “Freshfields, Slaughter and May and Simpson Thacher Advise on £10.9bn EQT-Intertek Deal” (18 June 2026).
- Intertek investor relations — Strategic Review Initiation & Trading Statement, 14 April 2026.
- UK Takeover Panel — Takeover Code on schemes of arrangement.
- EQT Group — corporate site and press contacts.
Disclosure: This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed before publication. It is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice.