UK private equity firm Better Capital PCC said on Monday its sale of Northern Aerospace Ltd to a Chinese buyer had fallen through after it failed to get approval from Britain's competition regulator.
The Competition and Markets Authority last month launched a probe into the sale of the airplane parts maker to a unit of China's Shaanxi Ligeance Mineral Resources, issuing an intervention notice halting the disposal.
"Permission to complete the sale was not obtained from the Competition and Markets Authority by the revised contractual deadline, despite requests for such permission by both parties," the company said.
"Accordingly the proposed transaction has lapsed."