Shares in Intertek Group plc have jumped 7% today – the highest of any firm on the FTSE 100 – after Swedish private equity firm EQT made a fourth and final takeover bid of £9.4 billion.
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.
The final offer is for £60 per share in cash and a £1.08 2025 dividend payment per share. Collectively it represents a premium of 62% to the closing share price of £37.70 per share as at 9th April 2026 – the day before EQT submitted its initial proposal.
London-headquartered Intertek operates a network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices in more than 100 countries. It is said to assess its valuation at more than £10bn, despite currently holding a market cap of £8bn (share price of £52) following an increase of more than a third since EQT began its courtship.
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.
Intertek is evaluating the potential separation – either through a sale or demerger – of its energy & infrastructure business from its testing & assurance business.
“The board believes [this] presents a significant value creation opportunity for Intertek shareholders,” it stated at the end of last week.
“A separation following the strategic review would create two high-quality global businesses with a strong historical operational and financial track record and compelling opportunities for further growth.
“While a separation could be either through a sale or a demerger, the board of Intertek is prioritising a sales-led process and Intertek has already received an encouraging level of interest from potential buyers of Intertek Energy & Infrastructure.”
In early March Intertek’s shares fell from around £47 to below £36 despite announcing a third consecutive year of double-digit growth.
Highlights included revenue growth up 4.3% to £3.4bn and profit before tax of £493.4m.
However the EQT bids have seen it bounce back.
Listed since 2002, Intertek’s share price peaked at almost £65 in 2020.