Slaughter and May-Advised Intertek Rejects EQT's Third Sweetened £9 Billion Takeover Proposal
Intertek Group PLC, the London-listed laboratory testing and quality assurance company, has rejected a third takeover proposal from a subsidiary of EQT AB, the Swedish private equity firm, dismissing the latest sweetened offer as continuing to undervalue the business and carrying too much execution risk. The rejection was advised by Slaughter and May, making this one of the more prominent UK public M&A contests of the year. Goldman Sachs is also named in connection with the deal. EQT's approach would, if successful, represent one of the largest PE-backed take-privates of a FTSE-listed company in recent years, with the headline offer pitched at approximately £9 billion. Intertek operates across testing, inspection, and certification — sectors that have attracted strong PE interest given their defensive earnings profiles and recurring revenue characteristics. The board's repeated rejection of EQT's advances signals either a valuation gap that has not yet closed or residual concerns about deal certainty, including financing conditionality. Under the UK Takeover Code, EQT faces deadlines to either firm up or walk away, meaning the competitive tension in this situation is likely to escalate in coming weeks. No competing bidder has been publicly identified.
Why this matters
A contested £9 billion take-private of a FTSE-listed company activates the full spectrum of public M&A work: Takeover Code compliance, independent board committee advice, fairness opinions, shareholder engagement, and potential scheme of arrangement or offer documentation if the bid firms up. The repeated rejection by Intertek's board on 'undervaluation and risk' grounds is a classic defensive posture under Rule 21 of the Takeover Code and will require careful management of the board's duties to shareholders. For PE buyers like EQT, the financing package for a deal of this size would involve significant leveraged finance structuring, likely requiring syndicated loan and high-yield bond components. The involvement of Slaughter and May on the target side confirms this is Magic Circle-level contested M&A work; the buy-side mandate, if it firms up, would similarly attract a top-tier adviser.
On the Ground
On a matter like this, a trainee would assist with drafting and maintaining the conditions precedent (CP) checklist to track Takeover Panel consents, shareholder thresholds, and regulatory approvals, and would index the due diligence materials as they accumulate. Board minute preparation and verification of the offer documentation against underlying source materials would also fall to the trainee team.
Interview prep
Soundbite
Three rejections under the Takeover Code compress the timetable — EQT must firm up or walk away soon.
Question you might get
“Under the UK Takeover Code, what obligations does EQT face following three public rejections, and how might Intertek's board structure its defence?”
Full answer
Intertek has now rejected EQT's third takeover proposal, valuing the business at around £9 billion, on grounds that the offer undervalues the company and carries too much risk. This matters because repeated rejections under the UK Takeover Code create regulatory time pressure on the bidder: EQT will face a 'put up or shut up' deadline from the Takeover Panel, forcing a decision on whether to table a firm offer or withdraw. The broader context is a sustained wave of PE-backed take-privates targeting FTSE-listed businesses trading at discounts to private market valuations — testing, inspection, and certification businesses are particularly attractive given their predictable cash flows. This suggests the valuation gap between public market pricing and PE's internal models remains stubbornly wide, which will sustain contested public M&A advisory volumes through 2026.
Sources
My notes
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