Melrose shareholders vote in favour of GKN spin-off plan; shares rise

(Reuters) -Shareholders of Melrose Industries Plc voted in favour of spinning off GKN's automotive, powder metallurgy and hydrogen businesses, the British jet and auto parts supplier said on Thursday, sending its shares up 2% in midday trading.

The company, which announced in September its plans to spin off the GKN automotive division, smaller powder metallurgy and hydrogen businesses from its aerospace arm, would be demerged into a new independent holding company called Dowlais Group, it added.

Melrose, which will retain ownership of GKN Aerospace, also planned to seek a London listing of the demerged company.

The company, which specialises in acquiring and turning around underperforming businesses before selling them, bought British engineer GKN in 2018 for $11 billion after a three-month battle to gain control of the firm.

(Reporting by Sinchita Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Rashmi Aich)