HUNDREDS of North-East workers are anxiously awaiting news of a multi-billion pound US takeover battle that could see their jobs put up for sale.

Los Angeles based defence giant Northrop Grumman has tabled a £4 billion bid for TRW which has a car parts plant in Peterlee County Durham.

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

That has led to speculation that the car components business, formerly owned by LucasVarity, could be put up for sale despite accounting for more than half TRW's revenues.

Workers at the Peterlee plant have already been through a traumatic shake-up.

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 - that statutory notification of redundancy - but most have kept their jobs.

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

Parts suppliers in the region are facing a torrid 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, manufactures seat belts and air bags. Although the Cook Way factory is still operational the company intends to run it down over the next few months bringing to an end ten years of production.

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

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

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

However, the company certainly has the financial clout to swallow TRW if it wishes. Cash from a sale of the car components business would also off-set the cost.

During 2001 Northrop spent $7.1bn to make itself the world's largest builder of warships. It also manufactures the Global Hawk spy plane currently on deployment to Afghanistan.