§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the present exchange control rules could prevent any foreign investor from acquiring 9 per cent. or less of the voting rights in a British company.
§ Mr. DellUnder existing rules such acquisitions are covered by a general permission unless the shares in question are unquoted, when specific permission is required.
§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether the present exchange control rules could prevent any group of Arab countries from each acquiring 9 per cent. or less of the voting rights in a British company, and so obtaining control between them;
(2) how the present exchange control rules could ascertain whether an Arab State was acquiring 10 per cent. or more of the voting rights in a British company through nominees.
§ Mr. DellUnder present exchange control rules authorised depositaries are required to refer to the Bank of England any transaction where they have reason to believe that a non-resident purchaser would directly or indirectly acquire 10 per cent. or more of the voting rights in a company resident in the United Kingdom. This is intended to cover purchases through nominees as well as purchases by a group of different individuals who may be acting in concert or in partnership. It is conceivable that 539W an authorised depositary may be kept unaware of the facts in a particular case, but this possibility has always existed and has never been significantly exploited. It is in the interests of the purchaser not to do anything which might jeopardise the success of his investment in a company resident in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how the effectiveness of the present exchange control rules is kept under review; and by whom.
§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how authorised depositaries were reminded during January of the importance of the exchange control rules; and by whom.
§ Mr. DellBy way of Supplement No. 24 to Exchange Control Notice No. 8 issued to all authorised depositaries on 15th January 1975. Exchange control notices and supplements are issued by the Bank of England.