GKN is exploring the option of selling its aerospace business to fend off more potential approaches after an unsolicited £7 billion offer for the engineering group last week.
A number of US private equity firms and industrial rivals are thought to be running the rule over the aircraft and car parts maker now it is in play. Melrose Industries, a listed specialist at turning around troubled engineers, made a cash and shares offer that GKN rejected as “entirely opportunistic” on Friday.
GKN, which can trace its origins back to the middle of the 18th century and employs 53,000 people around the world including 6,000 in the UK, responded by announcing plans to split its aerospace arm from the larger automotive division. It is now understood