The ‘stampede’ of takeover bids for British companies is set to spark a fees bonanza of up to £600million for bankers and other advisers.

Some £60billion of offers have been tabled for London-listed companies so far this year as foreign predators circle the UK stock market on the hunt for bargains.

Household names including Easyjet, Tate & Lyle, William Hill owner Evoke and Schroders are among those to have been targeted.

Advisers on takeover deals – including bankers and lawyers – typically command fees of between 0.5 per cent and 1 per cent.

That means they are in line for anything between £300million and £600million.

The windfall – for banks such as Goldman Sachs and Barclays and law firms including Slaughter & May and Freshfields – will likely trigger huge payouts for senior staff.

But the avalanche of takeover activity has fuelled fears that the London stock market has become a ‘hunting ground’ as foreign bidders snap up British firms on the cheap.

Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said: ‘It’s another bumper year for takeovers as deals keep coming. Bankers involved in the deals will love the action as they will be scooping up big advisory fees.

‘Investors might get a nice bump, but they’re also giving up future returns which over time could far exceed the extra bit they’re getting from bid premiums. The flow of companies heading for the exit reduces choice for investors which is a bad thing.’

FTSE 250 airline Easyjet last week rejected a fourth bid, worth £4.9billion, from Castlelake – but opened its books to the US investment firm in a sign a deal could be done.

That came just days after warehouse and data centre developer Segro joined the list of FTSE 100 companies on the block after a £12.6billion bid from US rival Prologis.

Three London-listed blue chips have already agreed to takeover bids this year – 222-year-old City institution Schroders, Lloyd’s of London insurer Beazley, and laboratory testing firm Intertek.

A fourth – energy group DCC – looks set to follow suit having said it was ‘minded’ to accept an offer from private equity giants KKR.

Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, warned the ‘stampede to take over slices of the UK market isn’t likely to slow any time soon’ – meaning yet more fees for bankers and other advisers working on the deals.

She said the UK stock market has become ‘a hunting ground’ due to low valuations.

‘Every takeover approach creates work for advisers on both sides of the fence – from buyers hunting bargains to boards seeking help to bat away bids they believe undervalue their businesses,’ said Streeter.

‘But what’s highly lucrative for advisers isn’t necessarily good news for the stock market. The continued loss of listed companies risks hollowing out the UK equity market.’