UK infrastructure services M&A holds firm in H1 2026 as trade buyers regain the upper hand
Buyer appetite across UK Infrastructure Services remains strong, with scarce technical capability and access to funded programmes now driving valuations as much as capital.
UK Infrastructure Services M&A has kept pace through the first half of 2026, with 87 deals completed in Q2 bringing the H1 total to 173 transactions, four ahead of the 169 recorded in H1 2025, according to a new 2026 Q2 UK Infrastructure Services M&A report from Heligan Group.
Private equity-backed platforms continued to expand through acquisition during the quarter. Inflexion took a majority stake in Ranger Fire & Security, which has completed 25 acquisitions since its 2024 launch, while Strabag added Crofton Engineering and Van Elle to its UK construction platform, and OCS agreed a takeover of Mitie in July, subject to shareholder approval.
Andrew Dickinson, head of infrastructure Services at Heligan Group, said: “Deal volumes held their nerve through the first half of the year, which says a lot given how quiet the back end of 2025 was. What’s changed is who’s winning processes. Trade buyers took 57% of transactions in Q2, up from 42% in Q1, while private equity’s overall share, direct deals and PE-backed platforms combined, fell from 58% to 43%.
“Whilst trade buyers returned to account for the majority of transactions, investors remain drawn to the Infrastructure Services sector for its resilience to AI-driven disruption, creating a competitive landscape among strategic acquirers, established PE-backed platforms pursuing further consolidation, and new entrants pursuing a platform acquisition to launch buy-and-build strategies of their own – a dynamic we expect to continue into H2.”
According to the report, access to skilled labour is becoming as important to buyers as access to capital, and this squeeze is most acute in specialised areas, where grid, water, nuclear and data centre projects are competing for the same constrained labour pool.
Current estimates indicate that data centres currently draw around 2.5% of total UK electricity, a figure expected to quadruple by 2030, and quoted grid connection timelines are now running five to ten years. OpenAI paused its Stargate UK project in April, citing energy costs and regulatory uncertainty directly.
“OCU Group’s acquisition of Athena PTS this quarter is a good example of the market building its way through that constraint,” added Dickinson. “Independent Connection Providers who can accelerate grid connections for developers are the kind of business that gets bought when a five-to-ten-year wait is the difference between a project happening or not.
“Inbound investment fell sharply in the quarter too, down to 18% of transactions from 45% in Q1. A single quarter doesn’t tell you everything, but it does reflect how critical infrastructure is increasingly being viewed through a strategic and sovereign lens.
“If the momentum from the first half carries through, 2026 could be a record year for the sector,” concluded Dickinson.