Lenders have begun pre-marketing a £1.8bn debt package to finance KKR’s £4.2bn acquisition of Spectris, the UK-listed precision testing equipment and software manufacturer, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The report cites public fillings as showing that the financing includes a £1.5bn term loan – expected to be split between euros and dollars – alongside a £300m revolving credit facility. JPMorgan, Jefferies, KKR Capital Markets and Crédit Agricole are leading the deal, with BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, NatWest, Helaba and Intesa Sanpaolo also on the ticket.
Select investors are being sounded out ahead of a wider syndication in the coming weeks. Market sources suggest strong appetite, with fund managers keen to deploy capital into new leveraged buyout financings after a muted start to the year.
The Spectris buyout, agreed following a bidding war with Advent International, marks one of the UK’s largest private equity transactions this year and comes amid signs of renewed momentum in M&A activity. Goldman Sachs has forecast a stronger deal pipeline into year-end and 2026, following disruption earlier in the year linked to US trade tariff volatility.
