India, China chase the US for acquisitions in the UK: research
31 May 2010
Companies from the US, China and India have dominanated in targeting UK-listed companies for takeovers since the past two years taking advantage of the favourable bid conditions in the UK, according to a research put out today.
Nearly half of all UK-listed companies or about 44 per cent of all merger and acquisition deals targeting UK-listed companies since the past two years have come from overseas companies, according to research from Wedlake Bell, a leading London law firm.
In the first quarter of this year, about 53 per cent of the bids for UK companies came from overseas companies, which is almost double to the 27 per cent in the first quarter of 2008.
Tim Bird, head of the corporate team at Wedlake Bell said that more and more overseas companies see the country as a good place to invest due to its stability in corporate governance systems, which is critical for any takeover to succeed.
Bird also said that the legal system in the UK is conducive for acquisitions and mergers since the UK's regulatory system is transparent, robust and takes care of the interests of both bidder and the acquisition target.
The current weakness of the sterling also gives a better value to overseas investors, he added.
