Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) yesterday said that it has completed the sale of its shares in QinetiQ, the privatized former in-house laboratories of the MoD.
The MoD’s remaining stake in QinetiQ was nearly 19 percent of the outstanding share capital, which was sold to investors for $454.8 million.
“The QinetiQ board welcomes the announcement, which it believes will broaden the shareholder base of the company,” Sir John Chisholm, QinetiQ’s non-executive chairman, said in a statement yesterday. “Our commercial relationship with the MoD is unaffected by this sale. MoD retains its special share in the company, which has no economic value but, in common with other privatized companies with strategically important roles, allows the government to protect the national interest.”
QinetiQ went public on the London Stock Exchange in February 2006.