Shareholders set to back £4billion Cobham takeover

Deal expected to get green light at vote on Monday

COBHAM is on the brink of falling into foreign hands after a bitter takeover battle.

The British defence group’s shareholders look likely to approve the £4bn bid from US private equity group Advent International in a vote on Monday.

That would hand victory to the Americans in the face of opposition led by the Cobham family.

Sources told the Mail the result of votes sent in ahead of time makes it unlikely that the 165p-per-share bid could be derailed by any ballots cast at the one-off meeting.

The bid from Boston-based Advent was revealed in late July but has been slammed by a range of opponents including MPs, former defence chief and Tory grandee Lord Heseltine, former head of the navy Admiral Lord West and Cobham’s founding family.

They argue the deal could have implications for national security and say it is a cut-price bid at a time when a cheaper pound makes British businesses a bargain for foreign buyers.

Only 5.2pc of shares were publicly committed to voting for the deal, which comprised those owned by Cobham’s management team and 5pc shareholder Artemis.

The Cobham family, which owns around 1.5pc of shares, had pledged to vote against the deal.

Lady Cobham said: ‘We underestimate the value to the country of the insight and expertise that comes through Cobham’s involvement in the US defence sector. Once the ownership transfers overseas, that knowledge exchange will come to an end.

‘The US might be one of our closest allies, but in an increasingly unpredictable world it’s clear that we need to be able to stand on our own two feet and not rely on other countries for our military capability.’ Former Cobham chief executive Gordon Page said he was ‘deeply suspicious’ of Advent’s intentions for the company and blasted its proposals as being ‘light in detail’.

Page, who was chief executive from 1992 to 2011 and chaired the company from 2001 to 2008, told the Mail: ‘I think shareholders were influenced by the certainty of some money.’

Opponents of the takeover insist the deal short-changes Cobham’s investors, who will miss out on reaping the benefits of a costly turnaround that has put the company back on track.

The Dorset-based firm posted five profit warnings between late 2015 and early 2017, paused dividends – which have only recently been restarted – and cut around 2,000 jobs from the global workforce.

Critics of the deal will be hoping the Government intervenes to investigate – or even block – the takeover, which it can still do after the shareholder vote on Monday.

Advent has so far said it will invest more money into Cobham, has vowed to keep its headquarters in Dorset and only cut 1pc of its 10,000strong workforce.

Advent and Cobham declined to comment.