A hectic morning for takeover approaches could yield a £14bn (€20.5bn) flood of fresh deals that would see the volume of mergers and acquisitions announced this year involving UK targets rise by more than a quarter.

News and information group Reuters this morning revealed it had received a bid approach from a mystery suitor which estimates suggest could value it at £7.5bn, while Icap was the subject of trader speculation that German exchange Deutsche Börse is lining up a takeover bid for the interdealer broker, which has a market capitalisation of roughly £3.5bn.