THE fate of hundreds of North-East workers was last night hanging on the outcome of a multi-billion pound US takeover battle.

Los Angeles defence company Northrop Grumman has tabled a £4bn bid for TRW, which has a car parts plant in Peterlee, County Durham.

Northrop officials have made it clear that they are interested only in TRW's defence and aerospace interests.

And the car components business, formerly owned by Lucas Varity, will be put up for sale despite accounting for more than half TRW's revenues.

Northrop said last night that it had a buyer. Possible purchasers are thought to be GKN, Federal-Mogul or the Lear Corporation.

Workers at the Peterlee plant have already been through a traumatic time.

Before Christmas, the company announced it was shutting one of its two factories in Peterlee and transferring production to one site at Mill Hill.

The 500-strong workforce was issued with 90-day notices - the statutory notification of redundancy - but most have kept their jobs.

Management blamed the world recession, the strong pound and the slump in the UK car industry, which has seen manufacturers buying more parts from Europe.

Parts suppliers in the region are facing a hard time, partly because Nissan is planning to do more business with firms in the euro zone. French suppliers are also competing aggressively for contracts as a result of the Japanese company's merger with Renault.

The Mill Hill site, which opened in 1996, makes seat belts and air bags. Although the Cook Way factory is still operational, the company intends to run it down during the next few months, bringing to an end ten years of production.

TRW employs about 6,000 workers in Britain, many in the car components business.

As workers awaited news, TRW attempted to rebuff the bid. The company dismissed the approach as opportunistic, coming just days after the unexpected departure of chief executive David Cote.

TRW said the company "finds it regrettable that Northrop Grumman has chosen to make this proposal".