April 1 (Reuters) – The field of suitors for British aerospace and defence supplier Senior Plc narrowed after private equity firm Arcline Investment Management dropped out of buyout talks on Wednesday, though negotiations with other bidders remained ongoing.
Senior, whose shares are only marginally up as of 0815 GMT, declined to comment in response to a Reuters request.
The firm is the latest in a list of UK companies that American PE firms are interested in taking over at a time when defence spending has significantly increased as geopolitical tensions flare up across the globe.
Senior, which caters to customers such as Lockheed Martin, attributes 16% of its revenue to defence.
Arcline did not elaborate on why it will not make an offer for the firm.
Under UK takeover rules, the firm is now prevented from making an approach for Senior for the next six months, except under some special circumstances.
Senior, which rejected Advent’s 1.14 billion pound ($18.57 billion) proposal in early in March, remains in talks with the PE firm as well as with the Tinicum-Blackstone consortium.
($1 = 0.7539 pounds)
(Reporting by Prerna Bedi and Simone Lobo in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
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