(Bloomberg) -- Cobham Plc won landslide shareholder support for a 4 billion-pound ($5 billion) takeover, placing the future of the U.K. defense and aerospace company in the hands of private equity firm Advent International.
The buyout firm's offer received 93% approval at an investor meeting in London Monday. Cobham shares rose 1.2% to 161.60 pence at 12:24 p.m. That compares with Advent's offer of 165 pence per share in cash.
The maker of in-flight refueling systems and communications gear for Airbus SE and Boeing Co. plans to leverage Advent's U.S. ties to pick up contracts across the Atlantic, Chief Executive Officer David Lockwood told reporters.
Although some funds including Silchester International Investors LLP, which owns 12% of Cobham, had said the engineer is worth more, influential proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass Lewis & Co. recommended investors vote in favor of the deal.
Cobham traces its roots to the 1930s and has about 11,500 employees globally.
The transaction requires regulatory approvals in the U.S., the European Union, U.K., Australia, France and Finland, Advent said in July when the deal was announced. The private-equity firm expects to close the acquisition by the end of the year.
--With assistance from Dinesh Nair.
To contact the reporters on this story: David Hellier in London at dhellier@bloomberg.net;Sarah Syed in London at ssyed35@bloomberg.net;Siddharth Philip in London at sphilip3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Aaron Kirchfeld at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net, Ben Scent, Neil Callanan
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