Analysts at UBS believe this week's £723m bid by US group Emerson for UK power supply company Chloride could presage a round of similar moves.
According to UBS, American companies are more actively buying businesses than European rivals because US confidence and earnings are improving, balance sheets are stronger than they were, and many American firms have cash assets overseas which they cannot easily repatriate. The bank added:
The UK is likely to continue to take the lion's share of US 'into Europe' activity. We see the aerospace and defence, IT services and software, engineering and biotech sectors as being of particular interest to US acquirers.
UBS highlights 22 possible acquisition targets across Europe, including Carphone Warehouse, Croda, Invensys, Meggitt, Smiths Group, Tullow, Virgin Media, Talk Talk and National Express.
