Freshfields is acting for Swedish private equity giant EQT after the buyout shop tabled a third bid for FTSE 100 quality assurance company Intertek, advised by Slaughter and May.
The latest bid for Intertek stands at £8.9bn of equity and values the FTSE company at over £10bn including debt. This follows two previous bids that were rejected last month.
Slaughter and May is providing counsel for the company’s strategic review, announced in April, as it explores a sale or demerger, as well as the bids from EQT. The team is led by corporate partners David Watkins and Natalie Cook.
On the buy side, Freshfields’ team is led by global co-head of the firm’s private capital group and Legal 500 high-value private equity Hall of Famer Victoria Sigeti, M&A partner and chair of the firm’s board Piers Prichard Jones, and M&A partner Kate Cooper.
The firm has been winning more mandates for the Swedish asset manager in recent years after winning a place on its UK and European panel in 2024, with today’s mandate allowing it to combine its sponsor relationships with its well regarded public M&A practice.
In the last three years EQT has stepped up its instruction of Clifford Chance and Freshfields, having previously favoured Latham & Watkins and Kirkland & Ellis before that, said a person with knowledge of the buyout shop’s processes.
Last year Freshfields advised on EQT’s acquisition of a majority stake in the B2B pharmaceutical dossier company Advalo, a deal corporate partner Mark Brewer led on.
However, EQT mandates in the UK have landed at a variety of firms in 2026. Ropes & Gray advised the fund on its £3.7bn acquisition of Coller Capital in January, while Kirkland acted on its acquisition of a 42% stake in Kelda Holdings, the parent company of Yorkshire Water, last month.
The takeover bid for Intertek, if accepted, would be the latest example of a large listed company being taken private. Earlier in the year Schroders agreed to a £9.9bn takeover by US asset manager Nuveen, with Slaughters acting for the FTSE-listed company.
