US duo lead on $1.6bn swoop for British aerospace firm

American power and management giant Eaton has agreed to acquire UK aerospace tech firm Ultra PCS for $1.55 billion.

The deal is the latest swoop by a US buyer on a UK target - many of which are perceived to be undervalued relative to their American peers.

Eaton’s acquisition follows a wave of recent US takeover interest for UK companies, including Qualcomm’s buyout of chip designer Alphawave and IonQ’s purchase of quantum computing startup Oxford Ionics.

About the deal

Ultra PCS is part of Cobham Ultra Group, which has been owned by Advent International since 2020 when the US buyout house completed its take-private of Cobham plc in a £4 billion deal guided by Linklaters and Weil, with A&O advising Cobham.

Cobham then acquired Ultra Electronics, Ultra PCS’s parent, in 2021 in a £2.5 billion deal steered by Kirkland and Slaughters. The two were then combined into Cobham Ultra Group.

The deal comes as European countries hike defence spending in response to softer support from the US. The volume of aerospace and defence deals has jumped by 86% this year to $28 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Advising

Weil advised Advent-owned Cobham Ultra Group, led by London private equity partner Lewis Blakey, assisted by associates Tony Herron and Alex Long, with Rupert Balfe and Meg Kelly.

A wider team of UK and US partners were also involved including Nafees Saeed and Brianne Kucerik (antitrust), Oliver Walker and Jonathan Macke (tax), Barry Fishley (IP), Hayley Lund (disputes) and John O’Loughlin, Shawn Cooley and Timothy Welch (regulatory).

Covington & Burling advised Eaton. The team included London M&A partner Philip Cheveley and Washington M&A partners Catherine Dargan and Drew Fischer.

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