UK takeover deals slump in second quarter, statistics office says

LONDON (Reuters) - The number of merger and acquisition deals involving British companies fell sharply to 152 in the second quarter, during the peak of the coronavirus restrictions, down from 463 in the first quarter, the country's statistics said.

The value of deals involving foreign companies acquiring British ones totaled 2.1 billion pounds ($2.75 billion), the lowest since the end of 2014 and down from 5.1 billion pounds in the first quarter, the Office for National Statistics said.

Deals involving British companies acquiring foreign companies were valued at 4.4 billion pounds, a slight increase from the first three months of the year.

($1 = 0.7623 pounds)

(Writing by William Schomberg)