§ Mr. Shoreasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information he has on the identities of those public quoted companies in the United Kingdom acquired by the United States of America, Japan and EEC companies in each year since 1978.
§ Mr. HowardThe available information on the nationality of overseas companies which acquired United Kingdom industrial and commercial companies is published in "Business Monitor MQ7" (table 5). A further breakdown showing the number of such companies acquired by United States and Japanese companies is as follows:
Number of United Kingdom Industrial and Commercial companies acquired by foreign companies Total Residence of acquiring company EC United States of America Japan Other 1979 6 3 2 — 1 1980 23 6 11 — 6 1981 75 14 22 — 39 1982 29 4 13 — 12 1983 24 3 12 — 9 1984 28 1 14 2 11 1985* 25 5 9 2 9 * Provisional.
Note: Excludes banking, insurance and oil companies.
In addition the Office of Fair Trading will receive information on the identities of bidding and target companies and will consider proposed mergers and takeovers which fall within the provisions of the Fair Trading Act 1973. Many proposed mergers do not take place.