{"id":14611,"date":"2018-02-12T18:13:21","date_gmt":"2018-02-12T18:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=14611"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:59:09","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:59:09","slug":"bid-for-gkn-could-be-threat-to-us-national-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=14611","title":{"rendered":"New fears for Melrose bid"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The national security of the United States could be jeopardised if the takeover of UK defence contractor GKN by investment company Melrose goes ahead, Unite has warned.<\/p>\n

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Unite has written to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the key body on US investment decisions, outlining its concerns, as well as to US defence secretary General James Mattis.<\/p>\n

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Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intervention comes in the wake of American congressman Neal Dunn writing to CFIUS claiming Melrose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lack of any background in defence contracting makes it an unfit owner of GKN,\u00c2\u00a0 given GKN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s involvement\u00c2\u00a0 with the F-35 and F-18 fighters and the Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters.<\/p>\n

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In a letter to CFIUS\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 staff chairperson Stephen Hanson, Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner raised \u00e2\u20ac\u0098genuine concerns over the future ownership of the company, as well as investment in innovation, research and development, design and engineering capacity\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

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Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner wrote, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bFuture ownership fears are genuine and should lead to concerns with both prime contractors and governments over the security of defence intellectual property, as well as future capacity to develop the necessary long-term investments, partnerships and innovative engineering design and manufacture capability to support our current – let alone future – national security requirements.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMelrose is a self-declared \u00e2\u20ac\u0098turnaround company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 focused on short-term shareholder value with the objective of disposing of assets within three-five years of acquisition.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Offer based on share value not industrial strategy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe proposed offer is based on share value and not industrial strategy, with Melrose levering a healthy GKN balance sheet in order to fund \u00e2\u20ac\u0098exceptional dividends\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to shareholders.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe resulting debt burden on GKN will result in a break-up of the company and rapid sale of core divisions essential to growing synergies and innovative engineering solutions in automotive, powder metallurgy and aerospace (including defence).<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMelrose has no experience of operating tier 1 contracts in defence, aerospace (or indeed automotive), it has no record of fulfilling necessary commitments to the long-term investment necessary to innovate either alone or in alliances and joint ventures with others,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 wrote Turner.<\/p>\n

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He continued, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn fact, its stated objectives work against the development of any such long-term relationship or investment.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTrusted relationships, secure long-term alliances and joint ventures that share the costs of investment and innovation are of course central to the design, engineering and manufacture of our defence requirements as well as wider requirements in support of our national security.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe have genuine concerns over the future of investment in innovation, research and development, design and engineering capacity as well as fundamental concerns over the future ownership and governance structure of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098stripped out\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 business. We believe you will share these concerns.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unite is strongly supporting GKN in its bid to fight off Melrose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bid.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The national security of the United States could be jeopardised if the takeover of UK defence contractor GKN by investment company Melrose goes ahead, Unite has warned.   Unite has written to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the key body on US investment decisions, outlining its concerns, as well as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[484,624,55,690],"wps_subtitle":"Bid for GKN could be \u00e2\u20ac\u0098threat to US national security\u00e2\u20ac\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14611"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26395,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14611\/revisions\/26395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}