§ Mr. GrocottTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the privatisations with which his Department has been involved since 1979, indicating in each case the date of the sale, the proceeds of the sale and the estimated current value of the company.
§ Mr. Kenneth CarlisleThe only privatisation my Department has undertaken since 1979 was the sale of Royal Ordnance plc, following an open competition, to British Aerospace plc in April 1987. The net proceeds from the sale were £185 million.
My Department has no means of estimating the current market value of the company, since its shares are not publicly quoted and its assets are not separately identified in the accounts of its parent company.