Telent, the telecom support services company with 2,000 staff at sites in Coventry, Chorley and Basildon, has accepted a £346m takeover offer from Fortress Investment Group of the US. Telent, which is Marconi's services arm, looks set to be disposed of just four months after Swedish firm Ericsson bought the bulk of Marconi in a deal which broke up one of the best-known names in UK industry. Marconi announced the closure of its Liverpool Edge Lane plant last year. Failure to win a £10bn telecoms contract with BT sealed the fate of the site which, by last summer, employed just 600. Following the announcement 300 people were made redundant, with the remainder transferring to Chorley. The workers were split between Telent and Ericsson 50:50. Ericsson completed the sale of Marconi in January of this year. The Swedish company secured the Marconi trademark as well as 6,660 of the company's employees in the sale, which was first announced in October. Ericsson left former Marconi executives with the services arm that subsequently became Telent.