Takeover activity across the Channel gripped investors’ attention, prompting a rally in British gambling stocks.

The subject of that takeover was Sweden’s Kindred Group, which confirmed that La Française des Jeux, which operates the French lottery, had proposed a €2.6 billion takeover in a deal that would create one of Europe’s biggest online gambling outfits.

The deal presents a victory for the activist investors that have been pushing Kindred to consider a sale. Among them are Corvex Capital and Eminence Capital, both of which have also been piling on pressure at Entain, the FTSE 100 operator of Coral and Ladbrokes, over its lagging share price and the acquisition strategy of its now former chief executive Jette Nygaard-Andersen.

This month Entain bowed to pressure and