UK Public M&A Monthly Activity Update: November 2025

In November 2025, there were three Rule 2.7 announcements made across the UK public M&A market and eight further possible offers announced.

Firm Offers announced this month:

• Recommended cash offer by Permira Advisers LLP for JTC plc – £2.3 billion – public to private
• Recommended cash offer by Phillip Brokerage Pte Ltd for Walker Crips Group plc – £5.96 million 
• Recommended share offer by Team plc for WH Ireland Group plc – £12.7 million
   

Possible Offers announced this month:

• Formal sale process announced by Kore Potash Plc
• Strategic review including a formal sale process announced by Bluefield Solar Income Fund Limited
• Possible offer by Team plc for WH Ireland Group plc – share consideration (firm offer subsequently announced)
• Strategic review including formal sale process announced by PPHE Hotel Group Limited
• Formal sale process announced by Management Consulting Group PLC
• Possible offer by ACG Metals Limited for Anglo Asian Mining plc
• Possible offer by Mark Furness for essensys plc – £12.95 million – cash consideration
• Possible offer by Jiangxi Copper Company Limited for SolGold plc – £780.7 million – cash consideration
   

Firm Offers breakdown this month:

Year to date breakdown:

November 2025 Updates:

CMA finalises changes to its merger control guidance on jurisdiction and procedure
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published its updated guidance on jurisdiction and procedure (CMA2) and updated Merger Notice template.
In June 2025 the CMA launched a consultation on a number of proposed changes to its merger control guidance in order to reflect the 4P’s framework – pace, predictability, process and proportionality – embedded in the CMA’s new Mergers Charter. The changes have been made in response to the Government’s Strategic Steer, which called for the CMA to contribute to its overriding national priority of economic growth, prioritise pro-growth/pro-investment interventions and minimise uncertainty.

The updated guidance:

• clarifies the CMA’s approach to the ‘material influence’ and ‘share of supply’ tests;
• includes more detail on when the CMA will exercise its discretion to take into account merger control proceedings in other jurisdictions (when deciding whether to call in a transaction for investigation on its own initiative); and
• contains changes to the pre-notification and phase 1 merger process, and to the Merger Notice template.

You can read more about the changes to CMA2 in our competition notes blog here.

The CMA is also currently consulting on its guidance to merger remedies (see our blog here for further details). The consultation is open until 13 November 2025, and the final remedies guidance is expected to be published by the end of the year.
 

Useful links

• Herbert Smith Freehills Takeovers Portal.
• Herbert Smith Freehills Public M&A Podcast Series.
• The Takeover Code.
• The Takeover Panel’s Disclosure Table (detailing offeree companies and offerors currently in an offer period).