The private equity backer of one of Britain’s oldest industrial manufacturing groups is in talks to sell an advanced defence technology business that will bring its parent’s dismantling close to completion.
Sky News has learnt that Advent International, the buyout firm which bought Cobham for £4bn in 2020 and then swooped on London-listed Ultra Electronics in a £2.6bn deal the following year, is in detailed negotiations to offload Ultra Electronic Warfare Simulation Technology (EWST).
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The division provides “training and performance validation capabilities” to its customers, and – according to the company – “specialises in market-leading, multi-spectral threat and countermeasure simulators that are designed to strengthen naval, air force, army and the defence industry’s electronic warfare testing, evaluation and training”.
One bidder who explored a bid at an earlier stage of the sale process said on Friday that the EWST business was unlikely to command a significant price.
A change of control may nevertheless require approval under the government’s National Security and Investment Act, given the nature of the division’s operations.
The EWST division is part of Ultra Intelligence & Communications, which is itself a subsidiary of the broader group.
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Alvarez & Marsal, the professional services firm, has been drafted in to manage the auction, the source added.
Advent has overseen a wholesale break-up of the enlarged Cobham group – a controversial process which drew opposition from members of the company’s founding family as well as politicians and commentators.
Among the assets already sold was Paris-based Cobham Aerospace Communications to the French group Thales, which fetched £850m in 2023.
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Advent’s spokesman did not respond to enquiries about the remaining elements of the original Cobham business in its ownership but declined to comment on the EWST sale process.
