GKN received several approaches for business after Melrose bid- FT

(adds Melrose (LSE: 136541.L - news) statement)

Jan 26 (Reuters) - British engineering company GKN (Frankfurt: 694194 - news) , which is facing a hostile bid from Melrose Industries (Frankfurt: 27MA.F - news) , has received several approaches for its individual business, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

A top-20 investor said he understood there had been 10-15 approaches made for the GKN's automotive business since the board announced plans to split the company in response to the Melrose bid, the FT also reported. http://on.ft.com/2nfC0LC

GKN, a British firm that makes parts for the Boeing (NYSE: BA - news) 737 jet and components for Volkswagen (IOB: 0P6N.IL - news) and Ford cars, rebuffed a 7.4 billion pounds ($10.47 billion) offer by Melrose last week, on the grounds that the terms of the paper-and-cash bid are "effectively unchanged" from an earlier approach made by Melrose, which was also rejected.

Melrose later responded to the criticism of its offer for the much larger GKN saying that the rise in the companies' share prices showed the merit of its bid.

Melrose said in a statement: "We have said from the start that a knee-jerk sale to a third party - foreign or domestic - would not be the best solution for the businesses themselves or for shareholders."

GKN was not available for comment, when contacted by Reuters.

($1 = 0.7066 pounds) (Reporting by Parikshit Mishra in Bengaluru, editing by David Evans)