Published: May 12, 2026 at 8:18 am
Swedish private equity firm EQT has made a fourth and final bid of £9.4 billion to acquire Intertek Group plc.
The offer is made up of £9.24bn in cash, with the remainder made up by the final dividend for 2025 announced earlier this year should this be approved by shareholders at the firm’s annual general meeting on 20th May 2026.
EQT saw its third offer of almost £9bn – £58 per share in cash – rejected last week. Under public market rules, it has until Thursday to submit a firm offer for the FTSE 100 firm or walk away.
Activist investor PrimeStone has urged Intertek to engage with EQT and give it supervised due diligence access, as well as to take a more realistic approach to assessing its fair value. It said that “the view that £65 [is fair value]… seems disconnected from reality”.
Another investor, Palliser Capital, told BusinessCloud that the latest proposal from EQT “represents an attractive opportunity for shareholders that compares favourably, on a risk-and-time-adjusted basis, to the outcomes achievable through the strategic review [if Intertek was to split its businesses]”.
It added: “We strongly urge the Intertek board to engage with EQT now to establish a constructive dialogue, allow any required due diligence to take place and secure a favourable transaction for shareholders.”
Reports suggest that other investors have urged Intertek to hold its nerve and rebuff EQT’s advances.