MELROSE BIDS £8bn FOR GKN

WHEELER-DEALER firm Melrose yesterday made a bid to bag engineering giant GKN by upping their offer to more than £8billion.

Melrose sought to win over GKN shareholders by promising an improved 60 per cent stake in the combined firm. Investors will also share £1.4billion 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 want shareholders to back their turnaround plan. They have also promised them a windfall by flogging parts of the business.

But Melrose, branded asset strippers by critics, claim they 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 6000 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.