£122bn of British giants snared by foreign predators

FOREIGN companies have exploited the fall in the pound to mount takeovers of UK rivals worth £122bn since the Brexit vote, the Mail can reveal.

The figures, which include deals for Belgian Anheuser-Busch InBev’s £79bn takeover of brewer SAB Miller and Japan-based Softbank’s £24.3bn buyout of technology firm ARM Holdings, are revealed as US giant Vantiv makes a £9bn swoop for payment firm Worldpay.

It has sparked a fresh row over UK takeover rules, with MPs warning crucial British companies are being snapped up on the cheap by their foreign rivals.

Worldpay, which was founded by Royal Bank of Scotland, has become a financial technology pioneer and is responsible for four in ten card transactions made in the UK. It is viewed as being a central part of the nation’s financial infrastructure.

Former business secretary Sir Vince Cable said greater protection should be given to companies that were important to the economy, particularly those in cutting-edge fields of science and technology.

At the moment the Government can only intervene in takeovers on grounds of national security, media plurality and standards or financial stability.

Cable said: ‘ We grow these extremely successful companies in the UK and they get taken over by a foreign company, not because it is commercially necessary or crucial to them but simply because they can be picked up cheaply.

‘The pound has been heavily devalued since the Brexit vote. We should not just be handing over companies that are great British assets on the cheap.’ Since the referendum on June 23, 2016, the pound has slumped by more than 13pc against the dollar, to $1.29. It has been followed by a takeover bonanza. There were £31.7bn of foreign takeovers in 2016’s third quarter, £85.2bn in the fourth and £5.2bn in the first quarter of 2017, the Office for National Statistics said. Figures for the whole of 2016 also showed there were £190bn of foreign takeovers – the highest since records began in 1986.

Bosses at Worldpay look to have given up without a fight in the face of the American bid, and stand to pocket £90m if it is bought. The deal has raised eyebrows because Worldpay was part of taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland, which was forced to sell it cheaply in 2010 under orders from the European Union.

Hargreaves Lansdown senior analyst Laith Khalaf said: ‘There will be other factors as well but the weaker pound does make UK companies a bigger target for overseas firms because those with mainly sterling revenues are now cheaper.’