Each month when speaking to companies about fundraising, we hear the argument that although the business is doing well and capital would speed up the plan, shareholders want to wait for a better market. However, our advice has remained consistent, there is no ideal moment, and waiting for one does, in fact, come with its own costs.
Borrowing to fund growth was once something European founders were quietly warned against. That caution is fading, and venture debt has become a normal part of how ambitious private companies pay for their next stage.
The National Health Service is sitting on a repair bill it can no longer ignore. The cost of clearing the maintenance backlog across the NHS estate in England reached £15.9bn in the 2024 to 2025 year, up almost 16% in twelve months, with a large share of it classed as a significant or high risk to running hospitals safely, according to NHS figures.
A question runs through many of the conversations we have had this year about artificial intelligence companies. If the underlying model is available to everyone, where does the lasting value sit?
One of the most active spaces of consolidation in UK services this year is not in technology or healthcare. It is in the ordinary work of keeping buildings safe and lived in, and regulation is what is driving it.
For business owners, the tax implications of selling a company changed in April 2026, and planning transactions has changed with this. Business Asset Disposal Relief, which had already risen once, increased again to 18% from 6 April 2026.
European leveraged loan issuance reached €22.7bn in Q1 2026, the weakest first quarter since 2023, and direct lending volume fell 33% year on year. The headline data describes a slowing market. The conversations we have had this month with advisers and lenders describe a different one.
Fertility has become one of the clearest examples of consolidation in European healthcare. Demand is rising structurally, the market remains fragmented across independent and small clinic groups, and private equity has moved in to scale.
Private equity had a better year for exits in 2025, but the recovery was uneven. Allianz Research put global sponsor exit value at around $905bn for the year, yet roughly three quarters of that came from a small number of very large deals.
A reverse takeover lets a private company gain a public listing by combining with a company that is already listed, rather than through an IPO. We recently advised on a transaction of this type involving a Swedish listed company on the Nordic Growth Market, due to be announced in the coming weeks.