US private equity firm CD&R's OCS bids £3.1bn for UK immigration centre operator Mitie

Pui-Guan Man Tue, July 21, 2026 at 7:07 AM PDT 3 min read

A US private equity firm has launched a £3.1bn takeover bid for the operator of Britain's immigration removal centres, as Reform UK promises mass deportations.

Mitie, a Home Office contractor that operates a network of immigration facilities, confirmed it had agreed to a 221p-per-share offer from fellow outsourcer OCS.

The merger between Mitie and OCS — which is owned by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice — would create one of Britain's largest private-sector employers.

Key Details

• Mitie's Home Office contracts include hundreds of millions of pounds in deals related to managing detention facilities and escorting immigration detainees to removal flights.
• The deal ends four decades on the London Stock Exchange for Mitie, though it could raise questions about the operations of Britain's immigration services.
• In 2024, Charlie Taylor, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, described the "worst" conditions inspectors had ever seen at Mitie's deportation facility in Harmondsworth, west London.

Political Context

Reform, which has led opinion polls for much of 2026, has said that if it wins power, it will remove 600,000 illegal migrants as part of a Trump-style policy billed as the "largest-scale mass deportation plan in Britain's history." The plans are likely to rely on major private-sector outsourcers such as Mitie. The business previously refused to comment on what it called "hypothetical or speculative proposals of this nature."

Labour has also promised an immigration crackdown in an attempt to stop small-boat crossings. Officials reported a 7% increase in returns and deportations from the UK, to 39,000 people, in the year to March.

Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, has promised to increase the number of immigration enforcement workers by 60% by 2027. In June, she confirmed plans to increase the number of beds at immigration removal centres, including at the Mitie-operated Campsfield site in Oxfordshire.

Financial Overview

• Mitie's immigration and justice division grew revenue by 10% to £319m during its latest financial year.
• Overall revenues were approximately £5.6bn in the year to March.
• Headquartered in The Shard at London Bridge, Mitie is also a key contractor for prison and hospital services, with 84,000 workers.
• It operates immigration removal centres including Campsfield near Oxford and Heathrow, west London.

OCS, meanwhile, was acquired by US private equity in 2022 and provides outsourced facilities management services worldwide, with around 50,000 UK staff.

Deal Details

Mitie's board of directors confirmed they would vote in favour of the deal and recommended the offer to shareholders.

Rob Legge, Chief Executive of OCS, said the merger would "build a British facilities management group that is better positioned to support the organisations that keep the country running."

News of the merger, expected to complete in the first three months of 2027, sent Mitie's shares up by more than 38%.

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, which owns OCS, bought supermarket chain Morrisons in 2021. However, it has faced steep debt costs since the takeover, closing 100 loss-making stores and blaming Labour's policies for adding to its financial burden.

Broader Market Context

The bid comes after a series of takeover bids for London-listed companies, in a flurry that has stoked unease that they are trading too cheaply and have been left exposed to opportunistic overseas buyers.

It is the 11th takeover of a UK-listed company in 2026 worth more than £1bn, according to analysts at AJ Bell.