The Government has been ‘made aware’ of the proposed merger of Stroud-based aerospace manufacturer Impcross Ltd and Gardner Aerospace Holdings Ltd, which was acquired by the Chinese firm Ligeance Aerospace Technology Co Ltd (formerly SLMR) in June 2017 and serves key aerospace OEMs and Tier One suppliers.

Under the Enterprise Act 2002, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Andrea Leadsom) has the power to intervene in certain mergers on public-interest grounds relating to national security.

On 5 December (acting on official advice), she issued a ‘public-interest intervention notice’ confirming that she is intervening in the merger on national security grounds.

In reaching this decision, she considered the representations received from the Secretary of State for Defence.

Mrs Leadsom said: “Following careful consideration, I have issued an intervention notice to the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the national-security concerns and competition aspects in this case.

“The CMA will now investigate and carry out a review of the national security implications of the transaction.

“They must report back to me by 2 March 2020.”