Takeover offers for UK companies jumped this year, with bidders circling larger companies, data has shown.

Insurer Aviva (AV.L) announced on Monday that it had agreed to buy smaller rival Direct Line (DLG.L) for £3.7bn, with the combined group expected to cover more than a fifth of the UK motor insurance market.

This is just one of a number of deals on the UK market that have been completed this year.

Data from AJ Bell (AJB.L) found there had been £49bn worth of successful bids in 2024, up from £17.2bn in 2023. The average value of these deals was £1.07bn, which was nearly three times higher than the £390m average in 2023.

Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell (AJB.L), said: "A bounty of unloved or underappreciated companies were swept off their feet, signalling the UK market as being 'on sale' and showing there was widespread value on offer."

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Last week, the UK's competition watchdog said it had given Danish brewer Carlsberg's (CARL-B.CO) £3.3bn takeover of UK soft drinks maker Britvic (BVIC.L) the green light.

Meanwhile, the UK government said last Monday that it had approved the £3.6bn takeover of Royal Mail-owner International Distribution Services (IDS.L) by Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský's EP Group.

In terms of who could be the next takeover target, Coatsworth put forward broadcaster ITV (ITV.L) and discount store chain B&M (BME.L), as a couple of suggestions.

The fact that the UK has been an unloved market could make companies cheaper for potential bidders, but it could also simply make UK firms less appealing than those in other markets.

In a poll last week, we asked whether you thought there were any major UK companies ripe for takeover bids in 2025. We received 108 votes, with 57% believing that there were firms that could be targets for buyouts next year. A quarter of voters disagreed, while 18% were undecided on the matter.

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