Engineering group picked off London Stock Exchange in £4.1bn deal

City PM Published Jul 16, 2026 Reviewed Jul 17, 2026 ✓ Reviewed by citations.press editors

Swiss industrial group ABB agreed to acquire UK engineering firm Rotork for £4.1 billion in a cash deal offering 506p per share.

4100000000 GBP · Rotork takeover506 GBP · Rotork share price

According to Peel Hunt, the UK market has seen 29 proposed takeovers of UK companies worth more than £100 million, while IPO activity remained subdued with only seven listings in the first half of the year raising £577.2 million.

29 · Proposed UK company takeovers over £100m577200000 GBP · Total funds raised from UK IPOs in first half of year7 · Number of UK IPOs in first half of year

ABB, which employs over 100,000 people, anticipates the Rotork acquisition will add three per cent to its total revenue.

at least 100000 · ABB employees3 % · ABB revenue increase from Rotork acquisition

The £4.1bn offer price for Rotork represented a 73 per cent premium over its closing share price of 293.1p on 15 July.

73 % · Rotork share price premium

Rotork’s shares rose 66.9 per cent in early trading to 486.6p, pushing the stock up 49 per cent since January.

66.9 % · Rotork share price increase on trading day49 % · Rotork share price increase since January

Rotork is set to become the latest company snapped off the London Stock Exchange by a foreign buyer after agreeing to a £4.1bn takeover by Swiss rival ABB.

The engineering group agreed to pay 506p per share in cash for the FTSE 250 firm, comprising 503p in cash and a dividend of up to 3p.

The offer price is a 73 per cent premium of Rotork’s closing share price on 15 July.

The group’s board unanimously agreed to recommend the offer to shareholders.

ABB’s chief executive, Morten Wierod, said: “We are convinced of the compelling strategic fit of the transaction.”

Rotork will operate a separate division to ABB’s automation business, and is anticipated to add three per cent to the Zurich-based group’s total revenue.

ABB, which is one of Europe’s largest industrial engineering groups and employs over 100,000 people, said the acquisition would bolster and expand its automation division.

Rotork’s shares rocketed 66.9 per cent in early trading to 486.6p, pushing the stock up 49 per cent since January

The deal marks yet another London listed company being snapped up by a foreign buyer.

The market has now seen 29 proposed takeovers of UK companies worth more than £100m according to Peel Hunt, while IPO activity remains subdued.

There were only seven listings in the first half of the year, raising £577.2m. The total market value of the new listings reached just £2.2bn.

Larger firms have also fallen into the sights of foreign buyers this year, including FTSE 100 insurer Beazley which was taken over in a £8bn deal by Zurich.

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith slammed “ivory tower financial regulators” last week for failing to deal with problems facing London’s capital markets.

Writing on social media platform X, Griffith said: “It’s a scandal and the damage they have done to the City has been tolerated for far too long”.

This article was originally published by City PM ↗. citations.press indexes the source-backed facts above and links to the original. Something wrong? Corrections policy · Report an error