Bodycote agrees Veritas takeover, ending London market listing
Private equity buyers continue to target UK-listed companies as valuation pressure persists across the London market. Bodycote says it has agreed to a £1.84 billion takeover by U.S. buyout group Veritas at 940 pence a share.
Highlights
- Bodycote has agreed to a £1.84 billion takeover by Veritas Capital at 940 pence per share, ending its London listing.
- Veritas outbid CVC, whose latest offer valued Bodycote at up to 915 pence per share, surpassing CVC's and Veritas’s previous bids.
- The deal extends the trend of UK industrials, such as FTSE 250-listed Bodycote, being acquired by private equity, signaling further sector consolidation.
Takeover terms and competing bids
As first reported by the Financial Times, the agreed deal values Bodycote's shares at 940 pence each, above an earlier Veritas offer of 914 pence a share.Bodycote says on Tuesday that it has accepted the proposal from Veritas, which had been competing with rival buyout group CVC for the company. CVC last month submitted a bid that valued the UK group at up to 915 pence a share.
The transaction values Bodycote at £1.84 billion and will take the company off the London market. Bodycote has been listed since 1972.
Implications for UK industrials and private equity
Bodycote is an FTSE 250 industrials group that provides heat treatment for manufacturing, metal joining and protective metallic coatings. The takeover adds to a wider run of private equity deals involving UK-listed companies, including businesses in the industrial and engineering sectors.In a joint statement on Tuesday, the companies say Veritas sees Bodycote as an attractive opportunity to acquire a leading global provider of metal technology solutions. They add that private ownership is expected to give Bodycote greater flexibility and a longer-term perspective to continue investing in the business and pursue targeted organic and inorganic growth opportunities.
Our earlier article on FTSE 350 audit fees explained that the sharp multi-year rise in audit costs for London-listed companies is starting to ease, with 2025 fee growth slowing to roughly inflation and more firms seeing year-on-year reductions. It noted that tougher regulation and higher compliance demands drove the earlier repricing, while AI-led productivity gains could influence where audit costs go next.
Latest KKR & Co. News
-
Afghanistan
-
Albania
-
Algeria
-
Angola
-
Argentina
-
Armenia
-
Australia
-
Austria
-
Azerbaijan
-
Bahamas
-
Bahrain
-
Bangladesh
-
Belarus
-
Belgium
-
Bolivia
-
Botswana
-
Brazil
-
Brunei
-
Bulgaria
-
Cambodia
-
Cameroon
-
Canada
-
Chile
-
China
-
Colombia
-
Congo
-
Costa Rica
-
Cote d'Ivoire
-
Croatia
-
Cuba
-
Cyprus
-
Czechia
-
DR Congo
-
Denmark
-
Dominican Republic
-
Ecuador
-
Egypt
-
El Salvador
-
Estonia
-
Eswatini
-
Ethiopia
-
Finland
-
France
-
Georgia
-
Germany
-
Ghana
-
Greece
-
Haiti
-
Hong Kong
-
Hungary
-
India
-
Indonesia
-
Iran, Islamic republic
-
Iraq
-
Ireland
-
Israel
-
Italy
-
Jamaica
-
Japan
-
Jordan
-
Kazakhstan
-
Kenya
-
Korea
-
Kuwait
-
Kyrgyzstan
-
Laos
-
Latvia
-
Lebanon
-
Lesotho
-
Libya
-
Lithuania
-
Luxembourg
-
Madagascar
-
Malaysia
-
Malta
-
Mauritius
-
Mexico
-
Moldova
-
Mongolia
-
Montenegro
-
Morocco
-
Mozambique
-
Myanmar
-
Namibia
-
Nepal
-
Netherlands
-
New Zealand
-
Nigeria
-
North Macedonia
-
Norway
-
Oman
-
Pakistan
-
Palestine
-
Panama
-
Papua New Guinea
-
Paraguay
-
Peru
-
Philippines
-
Poland
-
Portugal
-
Puerto Rico
-
Qatar
-
Reunion
-
Romania
-
Rwanda
-
Saudi Arabia
-
Serbia
-
Singapore
-
Slovakia
-
Slovenia
-
Somalia
-
South Africa
-
Spain
-
Sri Lanka
-
Sweden
-
Switzerland
-
Syria
-
Taiwan
-
Tajikistan
-
Tanzania
-
Thailand
-
Trinidad and Tobago
-
Tunisia
-
Turkey
-
UAE
-
Uganda
-
Ukraine
-
United Kingdom
-
United States
-
Uruguay
-
Uzbekistan
-
Venezuela
-
Vietnam
-
Yemen
-
Zambia
-
Zimbabwe
- Forex
- Crypto
