Engineer slams ‘fake’ bid

TROUBLED engineer GKN came out fighting as it fends off a £7.4bn hostile takeover by predator Melrose Industries.

In a blistering attack on Melrose bosses, GKN chief executive Anne Stevens accused them of making a string of inaccurate statements in its bid for the 259year-old company.

The intervention came just a day after Melrose lodged an unsolicited £7.4bn bid for GKN in what would be the biggest hostile takeover in the UK since Kraft bought Cadbury in 2009.

GKN has 9,000 staff in the UK and makes parts for fighter jets, Black Hawk helicopters and commercial airliners as well as car manufacturers such as Jaguar Land Rover and Mercedes.

Melrose chairman Christopher Miller outlined his plans to cull head office jobs at GKN and sell parts of the business in the next three to five years.

‘GKN is a venerable company, it is 250 years old, and sadly it behaves like it,’ he said.

But Stevens, a 69- year- old former Ford executive who was appointed last week, snapped back yesterday, saying: ‘The terms fundamentally undervalue the company and we are actively engaging with shareholders to explain how our transformation plan will provide value, whilst debunking some of Melrose’s inaccurate assertions.’

Top of the list was Melrose’s claim that its offer price was a 32pc premium for GKN shareholders. GKN said: ‘ GKN’s board considers 32pc to be a fake premium.’

Dismissing claims that Stevens was planning a ‘hasty break-up’ of the company, GKN added: ‘This is not the case.’