𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Shares in UK heat treatment specialist Bodycote have slumped after US investment firm Apollo Global Management walked away from a £1.5 billion proposed takeover.

Macclesfield-based Bodycote said late last month it had received a conditional all-cash takeover approach from Apollo worth 885p a share, which sent the stock surging by nearly a fifth on the day.

But New York private equity firm Apollo said on Friday it was not going to make a firm offer for Bodycote, without giving reasons, and is now restricted from making another approach for the firm for six months under UK takeover rules.

Shares in Bodycote fell around 10% in Friday morning trading on the bid disappointment.

Apollo said it “continues to hold Bodycote and its management team in high regard, is appreciative of the discussions with them and Bodycote’s board of directors, and would like to thank them for their time and consideration of the proposal”.

Bodycote said its board “has strong confidence in Bodycote’s potential and its strategy to create a high-performing, resilient business with attractive growth prospects”.

It added the firm had made a “positive start to 2026 trading”.

Bodycote – which is a thermal processing engineering firm – recently reported core revenue growth of 9% on a constant currency basis for the first four months of the year, compared with a 5% decline a year earlier.