ULTRA SHARES ROCKET AFTER SELLOUT APPROVAL

ULTRA Electronics shares soared after Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng waved through its sale to US private equity firm Advent International.

The British defence group is set to be bought by Advent subsidiary Cobham for £2.6bn, despite opposition.

Kwarteng was urged to block the takeover amid fears of the hollowing out of the UK’s defence sector. But Advent has agreed legally binding undertakings to protect national security, and Kwarteng has said he was ‘minded to accept’ the takeover. Shares in Ultra, which makes submarine-hunting kit, jumped 12.3pc, or 378p, to 3448p.

They had been hovering below the £35 per share offer price.

Undertakings include creating two companies to cover Ultra’s most sensitive work in the UK, with a stateendorsed board director on each.

Ministers will have ‘strong step-in rights’, allowing the Government to secure any future transfer of ownership. Some MPs were furious, with former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith saying he ‘could not understand’ why it was not blocked.