MELROSE BIDS £8bn FOR GKN

Wheeler-dealer firm Melrose yesterday made a last bid to bag engineering giant GKN by upping its offer to more than £8bn.

Melrose sought to win over GKN shareholders by promising them an improved 60% stake in the combined firm. Investors will also share £1.4bn in cash.

Melrose’s pursuit of GKN, a big supplier of technology and parts for fighter jets and car makers, has been one of the most hostile in years. Redditch-based GKN wants shareholders to back its turnaround plan. It has also promised them a windfall by flogging parts of the business.

But Melrose, branded an asset stripper by critics, claims it can make investors more money. At stake is the future of GKN, which traces its roots back 259 years, and its 58,000 workers, including 6,000 in the UK. Melrose chairman Christopher Miller accused GKN’S board of approving a “hasty fire sale” of offshoots. GKN boss Anne Stevens said: “They are accountants and lawyers, not engineers.”

Investors have until March 29 to decide.

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