MPs Call for UK Government to Block GKN Hostile Takeover

MPs Call for Government to Block Melrose's £8bn Hostile Takeover of GKN (excerpt)

One of Britain’s oldest engineering firms is to be taken over by a company that has been labelled an “asset-stripper”, prompting calls for the government to block the £8.1bn deal on national security grounds.

GKN, which was founded in 1759 and has 59,000 staff including 6,000 in the UK, succumbed to a “hostile” bid from Melrose after a lengthy and sometimes acrimonious corporate tussle that has spilled over into the political arena.

Melrose, which buys underperforming firms to cut costs and sell on at a profit, appealed directly to GKN shareholders after the company’s board rejected two bids, narrowly winning their approval at a vote on Thursday afternoon.

Investors’ blessing for the takeover signals an end to the independence of a 269-year-old engineering firm that provided the iron for the construction of Britain’s railways and produced Spitfires during the second world war.

Business secretary Greg Clark said he would consider calls from MPs and trade unions to intervene on national security grounds, given GKN’s role in making components for military aircraft including the Lockheed F-35B fighter jet. (end of excerpt)

Click here for the full story, on The Guardian website.

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