A second major US defence group has joined the battle to buy Britain's Meggitt PLC (LSE:MGGT) with a new £7bn bid.
TransDigm Group Inc (NYSE:TDG) made an unsolicited and “preliminary” offer of 900p per share, a week after the FTSE 250 company's board backed an 800p takeover by rival Parker-Hannifin Corp.
Shares in Meggitt had soared 16% higher to 830p by the close.
It follows the trend of UK defence companies being taken over by America, with Cobham taken private by Advent for £4bn last year and recently agreeing to snap up another FTSE 250-listed player Ultra Electronics PLC for £2.6bn.
There is concern in Whitehall about the trend, with Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng reported to be “closely and actively monitoring” both the Meggitt and Ultra deals.
The Defence Select Committee recently recommended that UK government should own a ‘golden share’ in all defence groups critical to UK national security to stop them from being taken over by overseas rivals.
TransDigm bought Cobham's Buckinghamshire-based avionics business from Advent in January for $965mln.