Editing Economy of the United Kingdom (section)

== Mergers and acquisitions ==
{{See also|List of largest companies in the United Kingdom}}
Since 1985 103,430 deals with UK participation have been announced. There have been three major waves of increased M&A activity (2000, 2007 and 2017; see graph "M&A in the UK"). 1999 however, was the year with the highest cumulated value of deals (£490 bil, which is about 50% more than the current peak of 2017). The Finance industry and Energy & Power made up most of the value from 2000 until 2018 (both about 15%).

Here is a list of the top 10 deals including UK companies.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://imaa-institute.org/m-and-a-uk-united-kingdom/|title=M&A UK – Mergers and Acquisitions United Kingdom, England|work=IMAA-Institute|access-date=22 February 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> The Vodafone – Mannesmann deal is still the biggest deal in global history.
{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Date
!Acquirer
!Acquirer nation
!Target
!Target nation
!Value<br />(£&nbsp;billions)
|-
|1
|14 November 1999
|Vodafone AirTouch PLC
|United Kingdom
|Mannesmann AG
|Germany
|126.95
|-
|2
|16 September 2015
|Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA/NV
|Belgium
|SABMiller PLC
|United Kingdom
|77.24
|-
|3
|4 August 2015
|Royal Dutch Shell PLC
|Netherlands
|BG Group PLC
|United Kingdom
|46.70
|-
|4
|17 January 2000
|Glaxo Wellcome PLC
|United Kingdom
|SmithKline Beecham PLC
|United Kingdom
|46.48
|-
|5
|28 October 2004
|Royal Dutch Petroleum Co
|Netherlands
|Shell Transport & Trading Co
|United Kingdom
|40.75
|-
|6
|21 October 2016
|British American Tobacco PLC
|United Kingdom
|Reynolds American Inc
|United States
|40.10
|-
|7
|15 January 1999
|Vodafone Group PLC
|United Kingdom
|AirTouch Communications Inc
|United States
|36.35
|-
|8
|30 May 2000
|France Telecom SA
|France
|Orange PLC
|United Kingdom
|31.14
|-
|9
|8 November 1998
|British Petroleum Co PLC
|United Kingdom
|Amoco Corp
|United States
|29.51
|-
|10
|31 October 2016
|GE Oil & Gas
|United Kingdom
|Baker Hughes Inc
|United States
|26.63
|-
|11
|26 February 2009
|HM Treasury
|United Kingdom
|Royal Bank of Scotland Group
|United Kingdom
|25.50
|}

* In most cases both the acquiring and target companies have/had shareholders spread throughout the world, not only in the stated countries.