London, June 19, 2026, 13:16 BST
- Intertek was changing hands close to 5,805 pence in afternoon London trade, down roughly 0.2% from where shares closed on Thursday.
- EQT is offering £60 in cash plus a final dividend of 107.7 pence, which brings the total value to £61.077 per share.
- Shareholder meetings should happen by August 6. The deal is expected to close either in the last quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027.
Intertek Group traded around £58.05 on Friday, off 0.2% after a 1.7% jump the previous day. The move comes as investors weighed the odds and timeline of a possible EQT buyout over the testing firm’s earnings. The FTSE 100 was flat in early deals.
Investors picking up the stock today won’t get the £61.077 payout. The 107.7p dividend only goes to holders recorded on Intertek’s book as of May 29 and gets paid June 24. That means the stock now trades ex-div, with today’s buyer looking at the £60 cash leg. With shares at £58.05, that’s a gap of 195p, or roughly 3.4%, before factoring in costs or time value.
Intertek’s fully diluted equity is valued at about £9.3 billion in cash. Add the dividend and equity value goes to £9.5 billion, with the total, including debt, coming in near £10.9 billion. The board backed the offer, which puts a 38% premium on the cash price versus the April 15 close. CEO André Lacroix said the deal brings “cash certainty today.” EQT’s Matthias Wittkowski said they plan to invest in “innovation and targeted M&A.” Investegate
Morningstar’s Ben Slupecki said the £60 price looked reasonable, pointing to what he saw as the market discounting Intertek’s intangibles and the fact that switching test providers is tough for customers. He put the proposed deal’s value roughly in line with Bureau Veritas and SGS. Slupecki said Intertek’s edge in the peer group has more to do with higher margins than with any outperformance on organic growth.
Shareholder pressure broke the two-month deadlock. Palliser Capital founder and chief investment officer James Smith called it a “positive outcome for shareholders”. PrimeStone Capital, with around 0.5% of Intertek, said it will vote yes and sees more room for deals in the testing and certification sector. Reuters
The deal will go through a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement. Shareholders still have to vote, and then the court must sign off. Once approved, the plan binds all holders. The transaction is also waiting on shareholder and regulatory sign-offs. Meetings are now expected by August 6. Wrap-up is penciled in for late this year or maybe early 2027.
The spread isn’t a sure bet. Any delay would eat into returns, and if the vote fails or there’s a regulatory problem, shares could drop closer to where Intertek trades on its own. Intertek turned down EQT’s earlier offers at £51.50, £54, and £58 before agreeing to the fourth. It also stopped work on a split of its energy and infrastructure units to focus on the deal. That move could still give some backup value, but it doesn’t guarantee the stock a hard floor.
The key dates now are legal rather than operational. The final dividend lands June 24, with half-year results set for July 31, but shares will probably track shareholder votes, regulatory steps and timing for the £60 payout. Minor trading shifts probably won’t matter unless they impact completion chances.
