The Public Interest Merger Reference (Mettis Aerospace Ltd.) (Pre-emptive Action) Order 2019

Explanatory note

Reproduced verbatim from the instrument as published on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). The note is prepared by the responsible government department and is not part of the instrument itself.

The Secretary of State has given the Competition and Markets Authority an intervention notice on public interest grounds in respect of the anticipated acquisition of Mettis Aerospace Limited by the company known as Aerostar and registered in the People’s Republic of China, either directly or through Ligeance Aerospace Technology Co. Ltd, a company registered in the People’s Republic of China and owned or controlled by Aerostar, or any other body corporate interconnected with Aerostar. This Order is made for the purpose of preventing action which might prejudice a reference of the matter to the Competition and Markets Authority under section 45 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (c. 41) or impede the taking of any action under Part 3 of that Act which may be justified by the Secretary of State’s decisions on the reference.

Articles 3 to 7 of the Order prevent completion of the anticipated acquisition and require Mettis Aerospace Limited (and its owners) to maintain its business separately from that of Aerostar and any body corporate interconnected with Aerostar and impose obligations in relation to the carrying on of the business and the safeguarding of assets. Articles 8 to 10 impose reporting obligations on Mettis Aerospace Limited (and its owners) and article 11 allows the Secretary of State to give directions for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the Order.

This Order, unless previously revoked, will cease to have effect if the Secretary of State accepts an undertaking under paragraph 3 of Schedule 7 to the Enterprise Act 2002 instead of referring the merger to the Competition and Markets Authority under section 45 of that Act or when the intervention notice otherwise ceases to be in force in accordance with section 43 of that Act.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. An Explanatory Memorandum is available alongside the instrument on the UK legislation website, www.legislation.gov.uk .