History. 6 of 8: all but EMIS (2022), after a second regulator review, and Royal Mail (2024), after a shareholder vote.
Hunch. Fairfax has signed up to put in as much as $2.3bn, so the money that sank the 2022 sale attempt is already in place.
The completion market resolves on Fairfax and Wittington announcements: YES if the purchase of Boots is completed on or before 31 March 2027, and NO if it is not finished by then or is called off. BBC News and The Guardian reports settle it if the company pages are silent.
We looked for cases where a buyer from outside a UK company's own business agreed to buy it, named a date to finish, and had to wait for approval. We found eight from 2020 to 2025, including the last sale of Boots.