Eight of Britain’s 10 largest take-private deals over the past year and a half have been led by foreign buyers, new data shows — a trend that Andy Burnham inherits as prime minister despite his promise to back British business.
According to a recent PitchBook analyst note, UK take-privates hit £12.5 billion in the first four months of this year, following £18.1 billion across 24 deals in 2025. American sponsors have been treating London-listed companies as underpriced relative to their US-based peers, while domestic pension funds remain on the sidelines.
“Foreign buyers led eight of 10 largest UK take-privates as Burnham takes office with promise to back business.”
Burnham has taken over the leadership of a nation that struggles to attract domestic listings, where chronically undervalued companies have become a magnet for foreign funds, and where domestic capital from pension funds isn’t being deployed into UK businesses at anything like the rate seen elsewhere. The economy, analysts say, has become a hunting ground for foreign capital.
The Financial Times, in an editorial marking the start of Burnham’s tenure, warned of “troubling signals” and argued that Britain needs to “revive animal spirits, not return to a statist past.” The comment reflects unease about whether the new government can reverse the exodus of British companies to foreign buyers without resorting to interventionist policies.
Burnham’s challenge is now clear: how to channel domestic savings into homegrown enterprise and stem the flow of undervalued assets abroad, while keeping the economy open to investment.