Overseas buyers swoop for UK firms

Overseas buyers lured by a plunge in the pound are looking to snare British companies on the cheap, ensuring a steady flow of deals since Britain voted to leave the EU and defying expectations of an M&A drought.

Almost 60 transactions totalling $34.5bn (€31.43bn) have been struck by foreign companies for British firms since June 23, according to Thomson Reuters data, compared with 79 deals amounting to $4.3bn in the month leading up to the vote.

This activity — dominated by Japanese group SoftBank’s $32bn swoop for chip designer ARM Holdings — has defied warnings that dealmaking could dry up for a period if Britain backed Brexit, given uncertainty surrounding risks to the economy and access to the EU single market.