| 8:30 AM | Registration, networking & morning coffee |
| 9:05 AM | Chairman’s introduction |
| 9:10 AM | Panel Session: The global M&A outlook for 2027: is the recovery becoming a sustained cycle
- The UK as a destination for international capital
- The outlook for UK and cross-border deal activity
- Geopolitical uncertainty, tariffs and macroeconomic risks
- The impact of interest rates, inflation and financing markets
- Sector hotspots including technology, infrastructure, healthcare, financial services and energy transition
- Strategic buyers versus financial sponsors
- How AI is reshaping corporate acquisition strategies
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| 10:00 AM | Keynote Address I: The Takeover Panel’s approach one year on from the reforms
- Practical experience of the revised Takeover Code
- Recent Panel decisions and emerging practice
- Developments in offer timetables and deal certainty
- Current consultation priorities and future direction of travel
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| 10:20 AM | Panel Discussion: Public M&A in 2026: New structures, shareholder expectations and execution risk
- Continuing growth in UK public-to-private transactions
- Competing bidders and auction processes
- Stub equity and alternative forms of consideration
- Minority shareholder protections
- Break fees, irrevocable undertakings and deal protection measures
- Increasing activism and its impact on transactions
- Lessons from recent contested bids
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| 11:05 AM | Networking & coffee break |
| 11:30 AM | Keynote Address II: Merger control: the new enforcement landscape
- Latest developments at the CMA
- The interaction between UK, EU and US merger control
- Digital markets and technology transactions
- Remedies, behavioural commitments and conditional approvals
- Practical lessons from recent cases
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| 11:50 AM | Panel discussion: Navigating global regulatory approvals
- Coordinating multi-jurisdictional merger control reviews
- Foreign direct investment screening across major jurisdictions
- National security reviews
- Regulatory timetables and transaction planning
- Managing execution risk in cross-border deals
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| 12:30 PM | Presentation: Latest developments in FDI and the National Security and Investment Act
- Recent NSIA developments
- Government policy priorities
- Current notification trends
- Lessons from recent interventions
- Practical guidance for dealmakers
- Developments in overseas investment screening regimes
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| 12:55 PM | Fireside chat: Governance, stewardship and shareholder engagement in today’s M&A markets
- How institutional investors assess transactions
- Board decision-making under increased scrutiny
- ESG considerations after the shift towards value creation
- The evolving role of stewardship
- Proxy advisers and shareholder communications
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| 1:15 PM | Networking & lunch break |
| 2:15 PM | Presentation: The role of AI in streamlining the dealmaking and due diligence process |
| 2:40 PM | Panel Session: Private M&A: The next phase of dealmaking
- Growth in sponsor-backed transactions
- Corporate carve-outs and portfolio optimisation
- Warranty and indemnity insurance developments
- Earn-outs, deferred consideration and valuation mechanisms
- Managing execution in competitive auction processes
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| 3:25 PM | Panel Session: Private Equity: Exits, liquidity and value creation
- IPO markets: are they finally reopening?
- Trade sales versus sponsor-to-sponsor exits
- Continuation vehicles and secondary transactions
- Minority investments and partial exits
- Portfolio company preparation for sale
- Creating value in longer holding periods
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| 4:10 PM | Chair’s closing remarks |
| 4:15 PM | Afternoon tea and networking |