UK private equity firm Better Capital’s sale of airplane parts firm Northern Aerospace to a Chinese buyer has fallen through after regulators did not issue approval following an investigation into national security concerns.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an inquiry last month into the £44m sale of the company a unit of China’s Shaanxi Ligeance Mineral Resources Co, issuing a notice halting the disposal.
That followed a formal intervention by the UK secretary of state for business, energy andindustrial strategy under rules allowing it to take action on national security grounds.
Better Capital said Northern Aerospace had clearly demonstrated that there were no competition issues in the deal and that all matters raised by the Ministry of Defence had been satisfactorily dealt with.
“[Northern Aerospace] and [Better Capital unit] the GP have been advised that there are national security issues but neither has any knowledge of their nature and both remain ignorant as to how the disposal of [Northern Aerospace] could give rise to any transaction-specific concern,” the company said.
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