GKN Rejects Melrose’s £8.1 Billion Hostile Takeover Bid

GKN plc has rejected a “final” bid by London turnaround specialist Melrose Industries plc to buy the British engineering firm for £8.1 billion ($11.3 billion).

GKN insists that Melrose continues to undervalue the company and its prospects, most recently by ignoring the benefits of GKN’s agreement last Friday to merge its driveline business with Ohio-based Dana Inc. and create a new company, Dana plc, that would be 47.5% owned by GKN shareholders.

The board also says the Melrose offer is worth about 5% less per share than Melrose claims. The board further disparages Melrose’s self-declared “buy, improve, sell” strategy as short term and inappropriate for GKN’s customers and investors.​​​