Tate & Lyle surrounded by the American private equity giant Advent

The spotlight this week will be on US private equity firm Advent, which is preparing a bid for Tate & Lyle.

The buyout giant is preparing a bid for the FTSE 250-listed artificial sweeteners company, founded by Henry Tate in Liverpool in 1859.

The company’s shares soared following the reports, which first appeared in the Financial Times, taking its market value to £3 billion.

Advent bought British aerospace manufacturing company Cobham for £4 billion in 2019. But when it sold off large parts of the company 18 months after the deal was completed, it sparked outrage.

The removal left Cobham, whose pioneering tank technology allowed Royal Air Force aircraft to fly missions in the 1982 Falklands War, without any British manufacturing sites.

The speed with which the members disintegrated fueled the debate about private equity and the ownership of key technologies.

Lady Cobham, daughter-in-law of aviator Sir Alan Cobham, who founded the company, said in 2021: ‘If this had been any other country the deal would not have been allowed.’

Advent then turned up Ultra Electronics. This year, an agreement was reached to sell Ultra’s Signature Management and Power business for ships and submarines to Missouri-based Esco for $550 million (£420 million).