§ Mr. David Nicholsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made on the sale of the Government's residual shareholding in British Petroleum.
§ Mr. Norman LamontThe board of BP has today announced its intention, subject to shareholders' approval, to raise approximately £1.5 billion through the issue of new ordinary shares. The shares will be issued in conjunction with the Government's sale of its remaining shareholding in BP, which was announced on 18 March. To facilitate this joint offering, the Government plan to subscribe for the new BP shares on a fully-paid basis and to sell them together with their existing shares. The subscription will take effect when the sale of the new and the old shares is fully underwritten. It is intended that shareholder's pre-emption rights will be protected. The112W sale is planned to be in the autumn and the proceeds will be payable in instalments. Further details of arrangements for the offering will he announced in due course.
It is intended that the Government's subscription for the new BP ordinary shares will be met from the proceeds of the joint offering. A token Supplementary Estimate for class XIX, vote 16 will be presented to secure parliamentary approval for the expenditure and authority for the appropriation in aid of a corresponding amount of the proceeds. If necessary, pending that approval, the estimated expenditure on the subscription for BP shares of approximately £1.5 billion will be met by a repayble advance from the Contingencies Fund.