Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Ministers must stop this GKN carve-up
Heseltine issues security warning
LORD Heseltine yesterday urged ministers to block Melrose’s hostile takeover of GKN on national security grounds.
The Tory grandee, who is a former Defence Secretary, said “no other country of our sort” would allow the deal on such a key engineering firm.
His intervention came as the Business Secretary shrugged off fears over speculators hoovering up GKN shares to swing the takeover vote.
Lord Heseltine said: “If you have a situation where a major engineering company is up for grabs in five years’ time to whom, under what circumstances, then how can people enter into the long-term partnerships upon which strategic investment decisions in defence are based?”
GKN has manufactured cannonballs used at Waterloo and Spitfires during its 259-year history. It faces being taken over by Melrose, a firm branded an asset stripper, after shareholders backed an £8.1billion deal by a margin of 52.43%.
Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable said Melrose’s victory was only secured “through votes from short- term speculators”, a reference to the large number of hedge funds on GKN’S share register.
But Business Secretary Greg Clark claimed investors who sold up in recent weeks had effectively decided not to back the company’s management. He added: “The approach we have reinforced is not to have a protectionist approach but to ensure our business environment is one in which there is competition.” On Lord Heseltine’s fears, he said it was “not right that other countries do not have a similar approach”.
The Government is legally obliged to consider if the deal triggers public interest concerns. Aerospace and defence trade association ADS wants Downing Street to assess whether the bid should be referred to the Competition and Markets Authority.
NO country that had a manufacturing future would put the interests of fatcats chasing a fast buck over the long-term survival of a great engineering firm that employs tens of thousands globally.
Spineless Tory ministers need to block the £8.1billion plundering of aerospace and automotive giant GKN by City vultures, as buyers Melrose will surely pick the carcass clean.
Jeremy Corbyn strikes a chord – even among some horrified Tories – by calling for the Government to intervene on national defence grounds. Workers’ skills and the UK’S security are immeasurably more important than the bonuses of greedy speculators.
We’ve seen this before, with US firm Kraft buying Cadbury then shutting a factory near Bristol that it had pledged to keep open.
We need tough laws to champion companies such as GKN and protect our industries from City spivs who put short-term profit before long-term prosperity. The Tories will never be forgiven if they let GKN be destroyed.