(Bloomberg) -- Britain ordered a review of the planned 6.3 billion-pound ($8.7 billion) takeover of aerospace and defense firm Meggitt Plc by U.S.-based Parker-Hannifin Corp., citing national security concerns.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the U.K. business secretary, issued a public interest intervention notice and instructed the Competition and Markets Authority to prepare a report on the proposed transaction by midnight on March 18, according to a statement Monday.
The move comes after Meggitt shareholders backed the deal last month. Parker said then it would engage with the government on legally-binding commitments, after promising to keep a majority of Meggitt’s board British and to maintain technology and manufacturing in the U.K.
The Cleveland-based firm said following Kwarteng’s intervention that it looks forward to engaging with the government “and bringing the review of the transaction to a satisfactory conclusion.” It said it continues to expect that the deal will close in the third quarter of 2022.
Meggitt is one of the last independent British aerospace suppliers, with customers including Boeing Co., Airbus SE and BAE Systems Plc. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government had said it would increase scrutiny of defense takeovers after a flurry of M&A in the sector, ordering a probe into the proposed purchase of Ultra Electronics Holdings Plc by a private-equity firm.
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