§ Mr. Arnoldasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is his policy towards takeovers of public limited companies by management groups from outside such companies.
§ Mr. Howard[pursuant to his reply, 1 December 1986, c. 432]: The Fair Trading Act 1973 enables certain transactions to be referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission for further investigation. These are mergers of two or more enterprises when either the assets test of the market share test in the act is satisfied. Our policy is that references to the MMC will be made primarily on competition grounds.
§ Mr. Arnoldasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the Director General of Fair Trading has
Output, productivity and costs in manufacturing (1980=100) 1970 1975 1980 1985 1986H1 (i) Output United States 74.0 83.0 100.0 116.7 118.5 Japan 56.3 69.4 100.0 139.2 139.4 European Community1 79.9 87.9 100.0 104.4 106.2 (ii) Output per manhour United States 77.2 92.2 100.0 120.1 121.9 Japan 53.9 73.2 100.0 129.2 130.0 European Community1 64.7 81.9 100.0 125.5 129.0 (iii) Unit labour costs United States 55.9 69.6 100.0 111.1 111.9 Japan 53.1 97.6 100.0 97.0 99.0 European Community1 42.2 65.8 100.0 127.7 129.7 1Excludes Greece, Luxembourg and Portugal. Source: IMF.