Tech sector now driving nearly one in every four UK private equity deals

Sophos deal propels UK PE-backed M&A activity to record levels

Nearly a quarter of UK private-equity deals this year have been concentrated in the technology sector.

That's according to the latest figures from financial data provider Refinitiv, which claims PE-backed M&A in the UK has hit a 12-year high of $40bn in 2019 following Thoma Bravo's $3.7bn bid for London-listed security vendor Sophos.

Some 77 - or 23.9 per cent - of the 322 UK PE-backed acquisitions have been in the tech sector. That's a higher percentage than any year going back to 1998, Refinitiv's data shows.