London bankers and lawyers earn over £1bn in takeover fees

financeSep 27, 20269171

London’s investment bankers, lawyers and accountants earned more than £1.2bn in fees this year from a surge of takeover deals, the Guardian reports. Mergers and acquisitions of UK-listed companies rose 175% in 2026 to $132.9bn (£100bn), according to the London Stock Exchange, as private equity and acquisitive US buyers targeted undervalued British firms. JP Morgan advised on 14 UK deals worth $89.4bn (£67.6bn), the most of any bank, while Slaughter and May was the leading law firm on takeover work. The biggest completed deal was EQT’s £10.6bn takeover of Intertek, a transaction expected to generate more than £370m in fees with Morgan Stanley, Barclays and Deutsche Bank advising EQT and Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Cazenove and PJT Partners advising Intertek. Partners at Linklaters and Clifford Chance earned average pay packets of about £2.5m and £2.3m in the year to April, and Evercore’s top “member” received £16.2m, while banks say higher bonuses are possible after the government removed a two-times salary bonus cap in late 2023 and some banks now permit up to 25 times salary. The figures exclude deals that did not complete or where documents are unpublished, including Apollo’s agreed £5.7bn bid for easyJet, and have raised concern about the implications for the future of the London stock market and renewed industry lobbying against higher bank taxes ahead of the chancellor’s budget on 28 October.

Prem Sikka

@premnsikka.bsky.social

London investment bankers, lawyers, accountants make £1.2bn from takeover frenzy. Everything for sale in slicing/dicing, asset stripping bazaars. Anyone focused on the long term? UK has been at/near the bottom of the OECD league for investment in productive assets for 30 yrs.

892h ago

Assembled Person2

When people started calling Banking an “industry” that’s when it all went wrong.

George 2

There are few areas of life where lawyers, accountants, and more recently, regulators, haven't ruined. Lawyers and accountants should be barred from running companies. They can hold positions within their sphere of knowledge but that's it.

Rouleur1

This country has suffered from short-term profit taking for decades. Profits, Exec. pay and shareholder returns are much more important than the future. The consequences of under investment are seen everywhere.

Andy Brown

@andybrown1951.bsky.social

These investment bankers trashed the economy in the 2008 crash and now they are back to their old games whilst the rest of us are staring down the barrels of a cost of living crisis and a massive climate change crisis. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

763h ago

Jo W

@josally53.bsky.social

While the rest of us struggle to make ends meet... It makes my blood boil. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

22h ago

linealoca.bsky.social

@linealoca.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/business/202... Bumper fees were fuelled by corporate takeovers driven by a flood of private equity cash + acquisitive American buyers targeting undervalued British businesses. The spree of acquisitions of listed companies is threatening the future of the London stock market.

11h ago

Roger Alan Blackwell

@rogera.bsky.social

London’s investment bankers and lawyers make more than £1bn in takeover frenzy > Whilst homelessness grows worse, governments impose austerity & consider further cuts that hit the poor, sick, disabled & the NHS! www.theguardian.com/business/202...

11h ago

Chris Gooch

@chrisdg.bsky.social

Giant bonuses, epic corporate splurges, in my experience these are predictors of dramatic events in international financial markets www.theguardian.com/business/202...

12h ago

Tom Ward

@tomdward.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/business/202... This is excessive. Pigs with their greedy snouts in the trough while other people go hungry

12h ago

bulwark67.bsky.social

@bulwark67.bsky.social

No matter which government is in power, the Rich get richer while the Poor get poorer. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

1h ago

✨StarChick68💫 ➡️🐸

@starchick68.bsky.social

9-2026 London’s investment bankers and lawyers have made more than £1bn from a frenzy of takeover deals this year, sparking anger over high City pay during the cost of living crisis. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

3h ago

1 source

theguardian.comLondon’s investment bankers and lawyers make more than £1bn in takeover frenzy

London bankers and lawyers earn over £1bn in takeover feesfinance

London bankers and lawyers earn over £1bn in takeover fees

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