City analysts have said consultant Mouchel can breathe a temporary sigh of relief following Babcock鈥檚 拢1.33bn takeover of VT Group this week

Mouchel had been in the sights of VT Group and had been resisting its takeover advances since it became public in December.

Now that VT has been swallowed by a larger predator, analysts said Mouchel could rest easy, although it may be vulnerable to takeover pressure in future given its vulnerable debt position.

Mouchel鈥檚 overall borrowing at the end of its financial year on 31 July 2009 was 拢180.7m, which left it with headroom of 拢9.3m.

One analyst said: 鈥淭he interest has gone away for now but that doesn鈥檛 mean things are looking rosy for them this year.鈥�