Turnaround investor Melrose Industries has confirmed plans to spin off the GKN automotive business in a move that will see one of Britain's oldest engineering firms broken up. Melrose, which bought the entire GKN group in a controversial £8.1 billion takeover in 2018, said it would demerge its automotive and the smaller, powder metallurgy divisions from its aerospace arm into a separately listed company.
It is hoping to get shareholder approval for the move in the first half of next year. The demerged company will become an automotive platform and is set to trade on the London Stock Exchange but the name has not yet been revealed.
GKN Automotive supplies driveline technologies to the global motor industry while GKN Powder Metallurgy makes metal powder and precision powder metal parts for the automotive and industrial sectors.
