Investors trying to takeover British Spitfire engineering firm branded ‘corporate vultures’ by MPs
Tory MP Robert Halfon said British jobs were being destroyed by 'the few corporate vultures plundering a company'
INVESTORS trying to take over the engineering giant that built Spitfires in World War Two have been branded ‘corporate vultures’ by MPs and business chiefs.
Firms from Mayfair and New York have been building large stakes in GKN – one of Britain’s oldest engineering companies.
A quarter of GKN’s shares are now thought to be owned by at least five hedge funds who would seek to make millions if the 259-year-old firm is bought in a hostile takeover by Melrose Industries.
The future of the firm – which made Spitfires in the Second World War and employs 58,000 people across 30 countries – could then be in the hands of investors with no long-term interest in it.
Critics fear that Melrose will sell the company, based in Redditch Worcestershire, bit by bit if their bid is successful.
Last night Tory Mr Robert Halfron told The Daily Mail: “Many British jobs being destroyed by the few corporate vultures plundering a company for short-term profits by long-term disaster.”
Melrose and GKN both declined to comment when approached by The Mail.