£3bn tech darling takeover

A BRITISH tech darling working on Hinkley Point nuclear plant was on the brink of being snapped up by overseas rivals last night.

Cambridge-based Aveva has been targeted in a £3bn bid from France’s Schneider Electric.

It plans to buy a controlling stake in the business that would leave Aveva under Schneider’s control. However, the French claim they will leave the firm with a UK headquarters and it would be listed in London.

Aveva, which makes software used to design oil rigs, ships and nuclear power stations, including by EDF for Hinkley Point, yesterday said it could not yet confirm if there would be job losses but said the takeover would help it ‘better compete on the global stage’.

Jean-Pascal Tricoire, the boss of Schneider Electric, added: ‘We believe that through increased scale and complementary footprint, the transaction will generate synergies that will benefit customers and shareholders alike.’

It was also the latest example of a company with links to Britain’s infrastructure being sold to foreign buyers.

The deal has sparked fresh calls for a review of takeover rules. Prime Minister Theresa May pledged to defend businesses that were important to the economy in July last year.

Since then several large firms have been snapped up. National Grid’s gas pipeline network was sold for £13.8bn to investors from China, Qatar and Australia, and WS Atkins, one of the contractors hired to build the HS2 railway, was bought by Canada’s SNC-Lavalin for £2.1bn.