A £6.3bn foreign takeover of one of Britain’s biggest defence companies has moved a step closer after it won backing from Brussels. The sale of Coventry-based Meggitt has been cleared by the European Commission, which said that the company’s US buyer Parker-Hannifin had satisfied its competition requirements. Kwasi Kwarteng, the British Business Secretary, is yet…
A £5bn auction of Britain’s biggest petrol forecourt operator is in jeopardy amid fears the Government will intervene over concerns that private equity owners would jack up prices at the pumps. Suitors for Motor Fuel Group (MFG) are worried that ministers will order a competition inquiry into the sale of the business to protect households as they navigate the…
One of Britain’s biggest technology companies is poised to snub Government overtures and float in the US, after regulators forced its owners to abandon plans for a $40bn (£30bn) sale. Arm, a microchip maker responsible for designs used by tech companies across the world, is expected to list in New York before the end of…
A US hedge fund has lodged a £38m bid for the owner of the Wolseley, the west London restaurant frequented by celebrities including Kate Moss and Stephen Fry, just hours after a row erupted between its founders and its Thai owners. New-York based investor Knighthead Capital Management is said to have approached administrators at FRP…
Selfridges, the upmarket department store chain, has been sold to a Thai conglomerate and an Austrian property group for just under £4bn. The price paid by Central Group and Signa Holding is understood to be slightly less than the sum sought by Canada’s Weston family, which has owned the retailer since 2003. As well as…
The US company buying Meggitt for £6.3bn has guaranteed jobs at the defence contractor for only one year despite pledging to be a “responsible steward”. The board of the FTSE 250 company has recommended the 800p a share from Parker Hannifin, which represents a 71pc premium to Friday’s 469p closing price but is only 15pc…
Morrisons is at risk of being loaded with debt and stripped of its property portfolio, one of the City’s of London’s biggest institutions has warned in an unusual public rebuke to the buyout consortium that has agreed to acquire the supermarket in a £9.5bn deal. In an escalation of tensions between public and private equity…
Small investors fighting a potential takeover of London-listed lithium miner Bacanora by a Chinese mining giant believe their campaign is gaining traction after the company fired a shot across their bow reminding them of City rules. The small shareholders, who claim to number about 400 individual investors holding 6pc of Bacanora between them, are battling a possible…
