Bosses could rake in £10m as they back Cobham deal

COBham’S bosses could bank more than £10m if it is sold to american buyout giant advent International in a £4bn deal.

advent’s takeover offer values stock in the aeropspace, maritime and defence firm at 165p.

at that price, chief executive David Lockwood stands to make £783,522 from the 474,862 shares he currently owns. But if he gets the maximum amount of shares he is entitled to in long-term performance programmes, which number 3.9m, he could pocket £6.4m from the takeover.

Finance boss David mellors will be guaranteed to make £783,522 from his 466,029 shares, but could rake in as much as £3.9m if long-term shares are taken into account.

Chairman Jamie Pike, who joined Cobham in may, holds 87,240 shares through his wife. This would hand them a more modest payout of £143,946.

Lockwood and mellors were brought in to run the FTSe 250listed group during a tumultuous period that saw it put out five profit warnings between 2015 and 2017, following an illadvised by Francesca Washtell expansion attempt that left it saddled with a mountainous debt pile.

advent’s proposal includes delisting Dorset-based Cobham. It has said only 1pc of the firm’s 10,000 or so jobs stand to be cut – most of which are head office roles related to its activities on the stock exchange.

Cobham’s history traces back to 1934, when it was founded by aviation pioneer Sir alan Cobham. It specialises in making systems that let aircraft refuel while still in the air, and technology used on airbus planes and F-35 fighters.

Shares in Cobham skyrocketed by more than a third after advent’s approached was announced, pushing it to 165.5p a share – above the offer price. It closed up another 1.6pc at 167.8p last night.

The share price jump may lead some to believe the 165p offer was too low – and could even prompt other companies to make offers or for advent to bolster its approach.