London, June 26, 2026, 14:04 BST
- Intertek traded at 5,805p, up 0.26%, at 14:04 BST. Earlier, the FTSE 100 was down 0.88% at 13:08 BST.
- Intertek shares sat 195p under the £60 per share cash offer from EQT. The 107.7p final dividend is set for payment on June 24 to shareholders of record at May 29.
- Intertek’s last 50 filings on Investegate were all Form 8.3 and Form 8.5 notices posted between Thursday morning and Friday afternoon.
Intertek Group plc (LON:ITRK) ticked up Friday even as London’s blue chips slipped. Shares in the product-testing firm looked like a takeover play, not trading on demand stories. Google Finance put Intertek at 5,805p, just 15p off its 52-week high of 5,820p. The FTSE 100 dropped 92.64 points to 10,437.25.
Live spread is tight, but still there. Friday’s quote is 195p below EQT’s £60-per-share cash offer, putting the discount at 3.25%, which works out to about a 3.4% gross return for anyone who buys now and holds until close, before costs. EQT’s bid puts Intertek’s equity value near £9.3 billion on the cash leg, or £9.5 billion when factoring in the final dividend.
Dividend moves the numbers. The deal was for £61.077 a share—£60 in cash plus a 107.7p final dividend. Intertek said shareholders on the May 29 register get the dividend, paid out June 24. Anyone buying in after that is comparing against a £60 clean price.
The return isn’t annualised. Intertek said it sees the scheme coming into effect in Q4 2026 or Q1 2027, depending on conditions. So the spread is tied to time and completion risk, not only the bid headline.
Intertek’s stock moved away from its usual earnings-driven trading, according to the regulatory tape. The last 50 updates posted on Investegate’s Intertek page were all Form 8.3 or Form 8.5 notices, dated between 7:00 a.m. June 25 and 1:47 p.m. June 26. None of the top filings was an operating update.
The forms are key under the UK Takeover Code, which makes anyone with at least 1% in the target disclose their interest publicly. Rule 8.5 applies to exempt principal traders tied to a bidder or target. The tape now gives a look at how market players are positioned around the deal.
Intertek directors control just 642,951 shares, or 0.42% of the company. That’s a small stake. The plan still faces a court meeting where a majority in number and shareholders representing at least 75% by value of shares voted must approve. It also needs a special resolution supported by 75% of votes cast at the general meeting.
The spread is now controlled by outside fund managers and index holders. So when Intertek trades up on a day the FTSE is down, that move isn’t about views on the company. It’s just the market pricing the odds that EQT converts its deal to cash.
Intertek CEO André Lacroix called the deal an “attractive opportunity” and pointed to “cash certainty today.” EQT Private Equity’s Matthias Wittkowski said EQT is “committed to investing in Intertek.” Palliser Capital founder and CIO James Smith told Reuters the agreement is a “positive outcome for shareholders.” Investegate
Intertek’s assets were undervalued by the market before EQT started talks, Morningstar analyst Ben Slupecki told Reuters. After EQT’s first approach, shares jumped over 31% by the afternoon of June 18, but Reuters noted they were still below the offer price.
Eurex is pulling Intertek stock futures right away, saying June 19 it will stop trading the contracts due to the pending takeover. The exchange said there’s no open interest in the products.
Intertek needs to file the scheme document within 28 days after its June 18 statement. The company expects to hold the court and general meetings by Aug. 6. According to Intertek’s calendar, half-year results are on for July 31.
