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Saturday, 13 June 2026

Compiled with AI from public news sources. Folio is editorial commentary for commercial-awareness practice, not legal advice. Verify any detail against the linked sources before relying on it professionally.

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Top Story/M&A

Elliott Advisors is reportedly weighing a £2bn bid for The Very Group as Carlyle explores an auction of the UK e-commerce retailer

Elliott Advisors — the US investment firm that owns Waterstones — is reportedly considering a £2 billion takeover of The Very Group, the UK's multi-brand online retailer that trades under the Very and Littlewoods banners. The Very Group is currently owned by Carlyle Group, which only acquired it from the Barclay family in 2025 before moving towards an auction process in January 2026. Elliott is not alone in its interest: Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com has also been identified as a potential bidder, setting up a possible competitive process for what is one of the UK's best-known online retail assets. No advisers to either side have been named. Very's interim results covering the 39 weeks to 28 March 2026 showed retail revenue broadly flat year-on-year at £1 billion, with sports growing 7.5% but fashion declining 4.5% in what the company described as a tough market. Group retail sales including Littlewoods and Very Ireland fell 1.6% to £1.2 billion. Elliott, Carlyle, and The Very Group declined to comment. For Carlyle, the sale would represent a rapid-turnaround disposal of an asset acquired less than 18 months earlier, a sign of active portfolio management rather than a distressed situation. For Elliott, whose activist and investment strategies have historically spanned retail and media assets, full ownership of Very would give it a significant UK digital retail platform at a time when consolidation in the sector is accelerating.

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Also Today

Revolut gains PRA approval to exit mobilisation and launch Revolut Bank UK as a fully authorised deposit-taker

US direct lending activity falls to a near three-year low as dividend recapitalisations also trail well behind historical levels

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US Second Circuit upholds Sam Bankman-Fried's 25-year fraud conviction and $11 billion forfeiture order

Sheppard Mullin Hires Senior PE Partner as New London Head in Sign of US Firm Expansion Push

Sheppard Mullin, the Am Law 100 firm, has made a senior private equity lateral hire in London, with the incoming partner also taking the role of London office head. The hire sig…

Sheppard MullinKirkland & EllisPaul Hastings

“US firms are using senior PE hires to buy market position in London, not just add headcount.”

AI & Law

Law firm commentary argues that workflow redesign — not AI purchasing — is the critical factor in capturing technology value

A commentary piece published on Law.com makes the case that law firms are systematically misallocating their AI (artificial intelligence) investment by prioritising product sele…

“Firms that redesign workflows around AI capture three times the value of those that simply buy tools and pi…”

Bigger Picture

Sector Watch

PE Retail Exit Pressure

The reported £2bn Carlyle auction of The Very Group — barely 18 months after acquisition — is the latest sign that PE sponsors holding UK retail and consumer assets are accelerating exit timelines rather than waiting for a full operational turnaround. Elliott Advisors' interest, combined with JD.com's reported approach, suggests competitive auction dynamics are returning to the UK digital retail sector despite mixed trading conditions. This pattern mirrors the broader pressure on PE portfolios: with direct lending volumes at multi-year lows and dividend recaps running well below historical pace, sponsors are seeking liquidity through asset sales rather than debt-extraction strategies. Law firms with strong private M&A, leveraged finance, and competition clearance capabilities across UK and Asian jurisdictions are best positioned to capture the resulting instruction flow.

One to Follow

Revolut Bank UK's transition to full PRA authorisation and the compliance build-out that follows — including FSCS membership, prudential capital compliance, and consumer duty implementation across its UK product suite

Full bank authorisation switches on an entirely new regulatory compliance stack for one of the UK's highest-profile fintechs, generating sustained instruction flow for firms advising on prudential regulation, consumer credit, and deposit-taking product governance. Banking & Finance, Regulation, and Financial Services practices at firms with FCA and PRA expertise will be most directly affected as Revolut builds out its UK banking infrastructure over the next 12 to 24 months.

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