Trio of firms poised to quit London Stock Exchange as exodus gathers pace

The scale of the exodus from the London Stock Exchange has been laid bare on the first trading day back from the summer break after three listed companies simultaneously unveiled plans to exit the market.

FTSE 250 members Bodycote and Gamma Communications, as well as energy firm Capricorn, each laid out fresh offers to be taken private with a combined takeover value of more than £3bn.

Macclesfield-based Bodycote, the largest of the pack and a constituent of the London Stock Exchange since 1972, said it had reached an agreement to be acquired by US private equity firm Veritas Capital in a deal that valued the company at £1.9bn.

The offer of 932p per share represents a premium of 41.4 per cent over the average price of 659.5p per share for the twelve months to May. This comes after the metallurgy business rebuffed earlier approaches from Veritas and CVC.

Gamma Communications has recommended a £1.1bn offer from UK private equity shop Epiris, just days after confirming it was in talks with European buyout firm Waterland over a possible takeover.

Fresh pressure on the London Stock Exchange

Epiris said on Tuesday it had made an all-cash bid for the FTSE 250 telecoms provider, at a 53 per cent premium to its shares before takeover speculation first emerged in the group first emerged several months ago.

Waterland, an Irish-based dealmaking firm, had planned to gatecrash the sale of Gamma to Epris before then offloading off much of the business to Giacom, a telecoms firm chaired by Matthew Riley. Its interest had teed up the prospect of another bidding war for a London Stock Exchange firm, just weeks after Apollo saw off fierce competition from US buyout firm Castlelake to snap up Apollo.

Epiris’s formal offer, which comes just a day before a Takeover Panel deadline, is likely to bring an end to months of speculation over the future of Gamma. The telecoms giant first told shareholders it was in talks with Epris in May, since when it has also seen off interest from Providence Equity Partners and Oakley Capital.

Separately, Capricorn Energy has inked an agreement with Norwegian rival DNO for $396m (£292m), in a deal that promises to end Capricorn’s 38-year stint on the London Stock Exchange. The Scottish energy firm switched its recommended offer from Genel Energy to DNO, after the Scandinavian bidder tabled an offer $36m higher than Genel’s.

This trio of takeovers will pile fresh pressure on top brass at the London Stock Exchange, which has been leaking constituents at a record pace this year. More than 50 companies have now either accepted offers or are subject to interest from firms that are either private or listed abroad. London-listed mainstays including Schroders, Beazely and Intertek have all quit the market in 2026, just as the bourse has been struggling to attract fresh listings in their place.