A World in Flux. What Global Upheaval Means for Buying and Selling a Business in Britain Right Now.
M&A, UK Business & The Global Economy
Wars, trade wars, and political earthquakes are no longer background noise for UK business owners. They are moving the deal table. Whether you are buying or selling, here is what you need to understand about the world you are operating in.
On 2 April 2025, Donald Trump stood in the White House Rose Garden and declared what his administration called "Liberation Day." With a placard in hand listing tariff rates for country after country, he announced sweeping import taxes that sent shockwaves across global markets. Stock prices tumbled. The dollar weakened. Oil fell below $70 a barrel. And in boardrooms across Britain, dealmakers paused mid-sentence and asked the same question: what does this mean for us?
It was a dramatic moment, but it did not arrive without warning. The world had been signalling its intentions for years. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 had already exposed the fragility of globalised supply chains, driven UK inflation to a 41-year high of 11.1%, and added an estimated £90 billion to Britain's gas bill in the four years that followed. The Middle East had remained a persistent source of volatility. Europe's internal politics had grown fractious. And across all of it, British business owners had been trying to plan, to buy, to sell, and to grow.
They still are. And that, in itself, is the most important thing to understand.
Why the UK Is Still the Place to Do Deals
Against a backdrop that would have given most people pause, the UK's M&A market has not just survived. It has stood out. In the first half of 2025, deal volumes were 50% higher than the same period in 2024. Between January and mid-June, completed transactions totalled over $118 billion, a 52% rise year on year. The UK ranked as the second most attractive market globally for cross-border M&A and outperformed every other European country by both volume and value.
That is a striking set of numbers for a country that has spent several years navigating post-Brexit friction, a domestic economy under pressure, and a series of tax rises that have not endeared the government to the business community. So what is driving it?
Key figures at a glance:
Deal volume growth: +50% (H1 2025 vs H1 2024)
Completed deal value: $118bn (Jan to mid-June 2025, up 52% year on year)
US share of UK public M&A: 65% of total deal value in 2025, despite dollar weakness
SME deals: 88% of all private M&A transactions were under £100 million
The answer is counterintuitive but grounded in logic. When the world becomes unstable, capital looks for stability. And relative to what is happening in the US, across Europe, and through much of the Middle East, the UK offers something rare: a credible legal system, transparent regulation, a deep pool of sector expertise, and a currency that, after years of post-Brexit weakness, makes British businesses genuinely competitive on price for international buyers.
"When the world becomes unstable, capital looks for stability. Right now, Britain is that stability."
The Tariff Question: What It Actually Means for British Businesses
Let us be clear about what Liberation Day meant in practice for the UK. The baseline tariff on most British goods exported to the US was set at 10%. Steel and aluminium faced 25%. Cars faced 27.5%, later cut to 10% under the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal announced in May 2025. This deal remained non-binding and left the 10% baseline firmly in place.
The tariffs are a genuine headache for manufacturers, exporters, and any business whose revenues depend on American customers. They increase costs, compress margins, and introduce precisely the kind of uncertainty that buyers find difficult to price. For the UK's 5.5 million private businesses, the question is not abstract: it shows up in quarterly revenues, in supplier negotiations, and in the conversations buyers are now having in due diligence.
But the UK also secured a comparatively favourable position. The EU faces 20% tariffs on its goods. China is at 145%, effectively frozen out of meaningful trade with the US. Against that landscape, Britain's 10% baseline rate is not painless, but it is not catastrophic either. And the UK's position as an independent trading nation, no longer bound by EU trade policy, gave it the freedom to be first across the line in securing even partial relief.
Ukraine, Energy, and the Long Shadow of Conflict
Three years on from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the direct economic damage to Britain has not ended. It has simply become structural. The UK spent an estimated £140 billion on wholesale gas between 2021 and the end of 2024. Energy costs that were supposed to normalise have stayed elevated.
The war has also recalibrated how global capital thinks about risk. Defence spending has surged across Europe. Energy security has become a boardroom issue, not just a government one. Sectors once considered unglamorous—critical infrastructure, defence supply chains, energy transition technologies—have become some of the most actively targeted by strategic acquirers and private equity alike.
What Sellers Need to Know Right Now
The demand for quality UK businesses is real. Private equity firms are sitting on large reserves of undeployed capital and are under pressure to put it to work. Strategic buyers from the US, Europe, and Asia are actively tracking British targets.
The challenge is that buyers have become more rigorous. Today, due diligence goes deeper. Supply chain exposure to tariff risk is examined in detail. Customer concentration is scrutinised. Management team depth is tested. If your revenues depend heavily on one or two large customers, expect those points to be central to the conversation.
Preparation is everything. A business that enters a process with clean financials, a clear growth story, and a competitive process will consistently outperform one that does not.
What Buyers Need to Know Right Now
For acquirers, this is one of the more interesting buying environments in a decade. UK valuations, while no longer at distressed lows, remain attractive by historical standards.
Geopolitics has entered the due diligence room permanently. Buyers are examining supply chain resilience, customer geography, and policy exposure as a matter of course. Private equity exits are also accelerating, with UK PE exit value reaching $30.4 billion in the first three quarters of 2025.
Sectors attracting the strongest buyer appetite:
Technology and AI-enabled businesses
Financial services
Life sciences and healthcare
Defence and critical infrastructure
Professional services
The Art of Getting a Deal Done in This Market
The defining skill of this M&A environment is creative structuring. What has become essential is the ability to bridge differences between buyers and sellers through intelligent deal architecture. Earnouts, deferred consideration, and vendor loan notes allow both sides to manage risk while achieving a strong commercial outcome. Warranties and Indemnities insurance has also grown significantly, allowing buyers to transfer risk away from sellers cleanly.
The Bigger Picture
The era of frictionless globalisation and predictable trade rules is over. What has replaced it is a world where supply chain resilience matters as much as cost efficiency, where geography carries real strategic consequences, and where the deals getting done are the ones with people at the table who understand all of it.
Britain enters this new era with real advantages: legal and financial infrastructure that global capital trusts, a regulatory environment tilted toward growth, and a concentration of sector expertise. Do not wait for the noise to stop. It will not stop. Understand the environment you are in, take proper advice, and make informed decisions.
Ready to understand your position in this market? Whether you are exploring a sale, looking for the right acquisition, or simply need clarity on what the current landscape means for your business, speak to our team. We work with buyers and sellers across the UK to get the right deals done in the right way.