Defence marketplace currently looks like one in which the UK sells companies and the US buys them
First Cobham, now Ultra Electronics, and Meggitt still to come. The sense of the UK’s defence industry being re-ordered and re-parcelled for the benefit of US private equity players and large US corporates is overwhelming.
While it would be absurd to say takeovers in the sector should never be allowed to happen, the bit that is missing in the current rush of deal-making is any sign of strategic thinking on the part of the UK government.
