London, May 19, 2026, 16:05 BST
- Intertek shares were quoted down 0.7% at 5,505p/5,510p, below EQT’s £60-a-share possible offer.
- The company’s AGM is due Wednesday, with the 2025 final dividend tied into the takeover terms.
- EQT has until June 11 to make a firm bid or walk away under UK takeover rules.
Intertek Group shares slipped on Tuesday, leaving the FTSE 100 testing company trading below Swedish private equity firm EQT’s £60-a-share possible cash offer as investors waited for the next step in one of London’s largest prospective buyouts this year.
The stock was quoted at 5,505p to sell and 5,510p to buy, down 40p, or 0.72%, on delayed Hargreaves Lansdown data. The broader FTSE 100 was little changed, down 0.03%, while Intertek’s market value stood at about £8.46 billion. HL
That gap to the offer price matters. It shows the market is still pricing in some risk that the possible deal may not complete, even after Intertek’s board said last week it would be minded to recommend EQT’s final proposal if a firm offer is announced on those terms.
EQT’s proposal is for £60 per share in cash, with Intertek shareholders also able to receive and keep the 2025 final dividend of up to 107.7p a share if it is approved at Wednesday’s annual general meeting. EQT said the package represented total value of up to £61.077 per share.
Intertek said the £60 offer followed three rejected proposals at £51.50, £54 and £58 a share. The board said it remained confident in the company’s standalone strategy but, after shareholder engagement, saw the latest terms as cash value it would be prepared to recommend, subject to final terms and documentation.
The company has paused its strategic review, including work on options for parts of the business, and has granted EQT confirmatory due diligence, the checks a bidder does before committing to a formal offer. The UK Takeover Panel extended EQT’s “put up or shut up” deadline — the date by which a bidder must either make a firm offer or withdraw — to 5 p.m. on June 11.
Morningstar analyst Ben Slupecki wrote on Monday that the £60 price was 21% above his £49.50 fair value estimate and implied an EV/EBITA of roughly 12 times, broadly in line with listed peers Bureau Veritas and SGS. EV/EBITA compares a company’s enterprise value, including debt, with operating earnings before interest, tax and amortisation. Morningstar
Slupecki said the deal made sense for Intertek, though he found the acquisition price expensive. He added that, as closing nears, Intertek’s shares may move closer to the offer price — or fall back toward prior levels if the deal fails. Morningstar
The bid also sits in a wider rush of foreign buying of UK assets. Reuters reported on Monday that UK-targeted mergers and acquisitions had reached $192 billion so far in 2026, more than triple the level at the same point last year, with bids for Intertek, Schroders and Unilever’s food unit among the year’s larger transactions. Reuters
“The UK is a tried and tested market,” Clifford Chance partner Dominic Ross told Reuters, pointing to the country’s established takeover framework. He also said much of the activity was inbound from the United States, helped by the view that UK-listed shares remain relatively cheaper. Reuters
Intertek competes in testing, inspection and certification, work that helps companies prove products, supply chains and assets meet safety or quality standards. A take-private deal would remove a London-listed rival to SGS and Bureau Veritas at a time when scale in the sector has been a live issue; Reuters reported last year that SGS and Bureau Veritas had discussed a combination that would have created a testing and certification group worth more than $30 billion. Reuters
There are still risks. Intertek’s own announcement said there could be no certainty that an offer will be made, even if preconditions are met. If EQT does not move to a firm bid, investors would be left to reprice Intertek on its standalone growth plan, the paused strategic review, and the company’s ability to close the valuation gap with European peers.
