Engineering group Smiths (LON:SMIN) are up 6% this morning after reports that US activist hedgefund ValueAct have taken a stake in the group.

This comes just after ValueAct revealed that it was the largest investor in Rolls Royce. Although either side is yet to comment, reports from Bloomberg suggest that the fund has taken a 5% stake in Smiths.

The hedgefund has been reportedly considering investing in Smiths for the past year, and discussed the move with outgoing CEO Philip Bowman.

A spokesperson from Smiths commented on the recent interest from ValueAct: “We welcome an active interest from all our shareholders, and we work in the interests of all shareholders at all times.”

Smiths is an engineering group serving a range of global customers including governments, petrochemical companies, hospitals, telecommunications companies and equipment manufacturers in a variety of sectors globally.