Private equity group sells out of Qinetiq amid audit office inquiry

The Carlyle Group said yesterday that it was selling its remaining stake in Qinetiq, the privatised defence and security concern, in a move that will provide further ammunition for critics of the private equity sector.
Carlyle, which acquired a 33% stake in Qinetiq in 2002 for £42.5m, sold some £160m of shares when the UK company was floated a year ago and stands to pocket a further £140m from the sale of its remaining 67.8m shares.

The National Audit Office announced last year that it was to investigate the privatisation of Qinetiq and said then that the price at which Carlyle acquired its original holding was one of the issues it would be looking at.
Last night the NAO said the investigation was continuing and that it expected its report on the Qinetiq privatisation to be completed by the spring.
Mark Milner Friday February 9, 2007 The Guardian