Founding family fights back in Cobham row
War of words as boss dismisses fears over deal as just ‘noise’
THE widow of Sir Michael Cobham has said he would have been horrified to see the defence firm that bears their family name taken over by US private equity.
Lady Cobham has been leading the charge against Advent International’s £4bn offer to buy the 85-year-old defence company.
In her latest salvo in a war of words with the firm, Lady Cobham, 76, told the Mail her late husband, Sir Michael Cobham, would be ‘really frustrated and annoyed’ at the takeover.
She added: ‘He would be just extremely sad and disappointed and very cross indeed for all the work he did to be taken over by such an outfit.’
Sir Michael, who died in 2006, took over from his father, founder Sir Alan Cobham, in 1969 and chaired the firm until the 1990s.
The firm pioneered technology that allows planes to refuel while still in the air and is now one of Britain’s biggest defence groups.
Lady Cobham believes the 165p per share deal, which the board has backed, should be blocked because it is not in the UK’s national interests and raises security concerns. Her family still owns around 1.4pc of the shares. She last week wrote to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace asking for the Government to intervene in the takeover, while the Liberal Democrats have also insisted it should be probed.
But in comments made this weekend, chief executive David Lockwood said he didn’t want to talk about Lady Cobham, and dismissed concerns raised by her and others as an ‘emotional response’. He added it is ‘noise’ which the company is ignoring.
Lockwood said that worries the inflight refuelling business will be moved overseas are misplaced and that ‘there is no logical reason to move it’. Lady Cobham slammed these remarks, telling the Mail: ‘David Lockwood talks a lot about shareholders but seems indifferent to the plight of workers.
‘As countries from the US to China are raising barriers to protect their national champions, it’s sheer naivety to suggest we can continue to simply shop around for our defence capability in the decades to come. Cobham is a great asset to this country and you would not see the US, France or Germany so casually consider trading in a unique hightech defence company.’
Investors have had a torrid time in recent years, enduring multiple profit warnings and stumping up £1bn of fresh capital in 2016 and 2017.
Lady Cobham said: ‘The company asked shareholders for investment over this period and now we’re emerging from that difficult time and we’re about to benefit from new contracts that have opened up to us.’
She added that the bid is opportunistic. ‘So this is a good time for Advent to pounce – after emerging out of the doldrums, as it were, and the fall in the pound and the recent stabilisation of the company’s finances.’
A Cobham spokesman said: ‘The board’s responsibility under the Companies Act is to act in the best interest of shareholders.’