Without support from the hedge funds, the bid would have failed and GKN's future as an independent firm would have been secured. The result sent shares in GKN up 9.5 per cent, or 40p, to 463p – giving the hedge funds a profit of £172million. But it is understood that while hedge funds such as Elliott voted in favour of the takeover, two-thirds of GKN's long-term investors were opposed. Sir Richard Lapthorne, who wrote a Government report into Britain's manufacturing industry in 2013, said: 'These rules need rewriting. 'Yet again we have seen a jewel in the crown of British industry sold because its shares were bought up by hedge funds.

Source: Daily Mail March 29, 2018 23:56 UTC