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.
The “Silver Tsunami” trend has become a key theme in the UK private equity space. Two separate UK industrial services businesses crossed our desk this month with the same profile: founder owners nearing retirement with no family successor, turnover in the £15m to £30m range, and a willingness to step back over three to four years rather than exit the business entirely on completion.
A new category of UK lower mid-market fund has emerged in recent years, focused on sectors where AI can materially improve operations and enhance revenues. These funds describe their targets as “AI-positive” sectors.
Europe’s online pharmacy platforms have spent the last decade building something valuable – large, loyal digital customer bases across multiple markets and channels. The question now is how that value is best realised, and increasingly the answer is in combination.
Europe’s IPO reform agenda has been in motion for more than two years and despite listing requirements being relaxed, growth companies across all sectors continue to choose private capital over raising capital from the public markets.
Software LBO multiples peaked in 2021. The 2021 and 2022 vintages are now reaching their first refinancing events, and the capital structures assumed at the LBO are being tested against what private credit will lend today.