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Apax Partners withdraws £575m offer for Pinewood Technologies, Beazley pushes back deadline on Zurich takeover
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Monday 16 Feb 2026
(Sharecast News) - LONDON-PRE-OPEN
The FTSE 100 was expected to open 16.4 points higher ahead of the bell on Monday, after wrapping up the previous session 0.42% firmer at 10,446.35.
STOCKS TO WATCH
Pinewood Technologies on Monday said it was still confident in its long-term prospects after private equity firm Apax Partners withdrew its £575m offer for the automotive service provider on Friday, citing prevailing challenging market conditions. Pinewood, which offers a cloud-based platform for car dealerships and manufacturers, said it was well-positioned to continue executing its strategy and to achieve medium-term 2028 guidance of underlying earnings of £58m-£62m.
Beazley said the deadline for Zurich Insurance to make a firm takeover bid has been extended. Beazley announced earlier this month that the two parties had reached an agreement in principle on the terms of an £8bn takeover by Zurich. It said on Monday that Zurich has begun a period of confirmatory due diligence and, with the support of the board and management of Beazley, that process is progressing as planned. Zurich initially had until today to make a firm offer or walk away, but the 'put up or shut up' deadline has now been extended to 1700 GMT on 4 March.
Precision engineering group Hunting said on Monday that it had received positive results from a pilot test of its enhanced oil recovery solution from Buccaneer Energy. Hunting said Buccaneer Energy, which utilised the solution at its Pine Mills field in East Texas, had reported a 100% uplift in production within the oil wells, with one well reducing its water cut to zero. Buccaneer Energy now expects to roll out the organic oil recovery technology across other wells within its portfolio.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
The Trades Union Congress is urging the Bank of England to cut interest rates and rekindle economic growth, pointing to analysis showing that cash-strapped consumers are lagging their international peers. The Bank's monetary policy committee voted 5-4 to leave borrowing costs unchanged this month, after six cuts since mid-2024. - Guardian
Drivers in the south-west of England would pay nearly four times as much as those in London as a result of Labour's mileage-based tax on electric cars, according to analysis of official data. The 3p-a-mile road charge, announced in the autumn budget and due to take effect in 2028, is expected to raise £1.1bn a year, partly offsetting the loss of fuel duty revenues as drivers switch from petrol to electric vehicles. - Guardian
Morrisons has put dozens of pharmacies up for sale in a fresh effort to cut costs. The private equity-owned supermarket has launched a sale process after concluding that many of its in-store pharmacies are not financially viable. As a result of the review, property agents have been tasked with selling some of the pharmacies on a store-by-store basis, rather than the entire portfolio. - Telegraph
The boss of Lloyds Banking Group has told staff that the FTSE 100 lender is investigating its decision last year to use employees' bank account data in pay talks. Charlie Nunn said that "we clearly need to look at the lessons learnt" from the incident, which provoked criticism from a union that Lloyds had been acting like "Big Brother", as well as inquiries by the Information Commissioner's Office. - The Times
The manager of a private company at the centre of a scheme to avoid inheritance tax has taken more than £100m in fees for the second year running, despite the business racking up losses in excess of £400m. Octopus Investments, which manages the little-known Fern Trading, pocketed £103.6m in fees in the year to June 2025, marginally ahead of the £103.1m the previous year, despite pre-tax losses at Fern widening from £185m to £420m. - The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices delivered a mixed performance on Friday as a softer-than-expected inflation print repaired sentiment slightly following fears about an AI bubble earlier in the week.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.10% at 49,500.93, while the S&P 500 ticked up 0.05% at 6,836.17, and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.22% lower at 22,546.67.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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