EQT raises its Intertek bid to £9.7 billion, escalating the contest for the FTSE 100 testing and certification group
EQT has increased its takeover proposal for Intertek Group, the FTSE 100 quality assurance and testing services company, to £9.7 billion, according to reports cited across multiple PE intelligence sources. The revised offer follows EQT's earlier £11 billion approach — which Intertek's board rejected — and represents a recalibrated bid likely reflecting negotiated price discovery and updated market conditions following weeks of Iran-war-driven equity volatility. Intertek provides testing, inspection, and certification services across consumer goods, chemicals, and industrials, sectors in which quality assurance demand has proven defensive. The company has previously emphasised its standalone strategic credibility. At £9.7 billion, the transaction would rank among the largest European take-private attempts of 2026. No advisers have been named in the available sources. A deal of this scale would require CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) review under the UK's mandatory merger control thresholds, and potentially parallel filings in EU and other jurisdictions given Intertek's global footprint. The EQT platform continues to deploy capital from its latest fundraising cycle, and the Intertek bid reflects the firm's focus on high-quality, cash-generative business services assets that carry predictable revenue through long-term client contracts.
Why this matters
A £9.7 billion take-private of a FTSE 100 company is one of the largest public M&A mandates the London market can generate, activating public M&A, leveraged finance (the debt package to fund the acquisition), regulatory clearance, and management incentivisation work simultaneously. The CMA will scrutinise the deal given Intertek's market positions in several testing verticals, and parallel filings in the EU and across Asian jurisdictions where Intertek operates will add cross-border complexity. The 'why now' driver is EQT's need to deploy capital from a recently closed fund while a war-depressed equity market creates a window to acquire high-quality listed companies at prices below their private-market equivalents. Firms advising on either side will run full public takeover Code processes under the Takeover Panel rules, with strict timetable obligations from announcement through to scheme court hearings or offer acceptance.
On the Ground
A trainee on this matter would manage the conditions precedent (CP) checklist across multiple jurisdictions, track regulatory filing deadlines for competition clearances, and coordinate board minute preparation for Intertek's independent directors considering the revised offer. Disclosure letter verification and Companies House filing coordination would follow if the deal proceeds to a scheme of arrangement.
Interview prep
Soundbite
A £9.7bn FTSE 100 take-private triggers simultaneous public M&A, leveraged finance, and multi-jurisdictional competition clearance work.
Question you might get
“What regulatory hurdles would EQT face in taking Intertek private, and which jurisdiction's clearance is most likely to be contentious?”
Full answer
EQT has raised its bid for Intertek to £9.7 billion, escalating a contest for one of the FTSE 100's most defensive business services franchises. For law firms, a deal of this magnitude activates the full spectrum of public M&A work — Takeover Panel compliance, scheme of arrangement court hearings, and complex regulatory filings across the CMA and EU. The leveraged finance package required to fund the acquisition will itself generate a separate, high-value mandate. This sits within the broader trend of PE firms targeting cash-generative, asset-light services companies during periods of market dislocation — exactly the playbook EQT has pursued across its European funds. I'd expect competition clearance to be the critical path item, given Intertek's dominant positions in several testing verticals.
Sources
My notes
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