M&A Pick-Up to Drive More UK Stock Market Exits, Peel Hunt Says

London’s stock market could shrink further in 2024 as takeover activity swells and new share listings languish, brokerage Peel Hunt said in a report, noting that the pace of M&A had accelerated toward the end of last year.

Smaller companies are especially in focus, Peel Hunt’s head of research Charles Hall said, noting 40 British companies with a value of more than £100 million ($126 million) had received takeover offers in 2023 and could therefore leave the stock exchange. Meanwhile, initial public offerings have been “minimal” in the past two years.

“The pace of de-equitisation is relentless and will ...