BUSINESS LIVE: Morrisons investors to green light £7bn private equity deal; Kwarteng puts breaks on Meggitt deal; Clarks under fire
Despite cries of outrage from Westminster, the City and the farming community, Morrisons investors are expected to give their approval today for the 122-year-old supermarket to be sold to a US private equity giant for £7billion.
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice recently edged out rival Fortress with a bid of 287p per share, taking the price to its highest level since 2013.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has slammed the brakes on the sale of Meggitt to a US rival by instructing the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the takeover of the British defence giant and produce a report before 18 March next year.
This means the acquisition is likely to be held up for at least six months or scrapped altogether on national security grounds.
Clarks’s private equity owners have been accused of betraying the shoemaker’s Quaker roots by threatening staff with the sack if they do not accept pay cuts.
Workers at Clarks’s Westway warehouse in Street, Somerset, have gone on strike for the first time since 1880 claiming Lion Rock Capital is using ‘despicable tactics straight from the private equity handbook’ to force them to accept a £3,000 wage cut.
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Morrisons investors are expected to give the greenlight today for the supermarket’s £7bn takeover