§ Mr. CryerTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish those numbers of individual shareholders retaining shares in each of the concerns privatised since 1979, indicating where Her Majesty's Government have retained a shareholding.
§ Mr. DorrellThe table shows the latest figures available for shareholdings in privatised companies. Where the Government retained a shareholding—including details of any subsequent disposals—this has also been shown.
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Shareholdings1 in privatised and former Government-controlled companies Size of share register Company Date of privatisation Initial Highest since privatisation3 Current Proportion of shares retained by Her Majesty's Government Per cent. Proportion and dates of subsequent disposals Per cent. British Petroleum December 19772 n/a — 513,569 (31 December 1992) 51.0 45.17/November 1979; 7.12/September 1983; 31.5/September 1987; 0.09/October 1990 British Aerospace February 1981 27,179 120,200 (December 1986) 92,631 (12 November 1993) 48.43 48.43/10 May 1985 Cable and Wireless October 1981 27,320 210,994 (31 March 1986) 158,481 (31 March 1993) 50.64 27.54/November 1983; 23.1/December 1985 Amersham International February 1982 10,051 — 5,264 (28 May 1993) nil — NFC February 1982 10,300 — 60,000 (December 1993) nil — Britoil November 1982 37,257 245,556 (31 December 1985) Owned by BP 49 49/8 August 1985 Associated British Ports February 1983 37,205 — 14,000 (December 1993) 48.5 48.5/17 April 1984 Enterprise Oil June 1984 13,695 14,166 (June 1985) 9,794 (31 December 1992) nil — Jaguar July 1984 125,000 — Owned by Ford nil5 — BT November 1984 2,139,520 — 3,371,207 (10 November 1993) 49.8 0.8/December 1987; 25.9/November 1991; 20.7/July 1993 British Gas December 1986 4,407,079 — 2,036,826 (31 December 1992) 3.3 1.6/January 1990; 1.6/July 1990 British Airways February 1987 1.2 million — 252,016 (10 May 1993) 2.5 1.0/June 1987; 1.0/March 1990 Rolls-Royce May 1987 1,988,966 — 564,318 (31 December 1992) 0.4 0.4 sold during 1987 BAA July 1987 2,187,500 — 561,759 (28 May 1993) 4.36 1.42/August 1990 British Steel December 1988 650,553 — 252,000 (December 1993) 0.05 0.04 disposed of during 1989 Water and Sewerage Companies December 1989 2.65 million — 1,106,5647(27 June 1991) 1.62 — Regional Electricity Companies December 1990 8.86 million6 — 2,975,1197(7 August 1992) 1.5 — Generating Companies March 1991 1.67 million8 — 1.3 million7 (November 1992) 40 — Scottish Electricity Companies June 1991 1.8 million9 — 1.4 million7 (15 March 1993) 3.5 — Northern Ireland Electricity June 1993 437,414 — 298,734 (1 December 1993) 4 — 1 For single company privatisations, these figures are not an exact guide to the number of shareholders because some shareholdings are held jointly in more than one name—for example, for members of employee share schemes only the trustees are shown on share registers. 2 Her Majesty's Government obtained a majority holding in 1914 but this never reached 100 per cent. The 1977 sale is shown as the first disposal of recent times. 3 Where the largest register of shareholdings was not immediately following privatisation—this usually followed a secondary offer. 4 These proportions do not sum to 51 per cent. because of rights issues. 5 Subsidiary of BL plc. 6 The offer allowed for holdings by individuals in any or all of the companies in the offer and therefore holders may appear on more than one register. 7 Shareholders may appear on the register of more than one company. 8 The offer required public applicants to apply for shares in both companies and the figure shown is that of allocation in the offer. 9 The offer required non-customer public applicants to apply for shares in both companies and the figure shown is that of allocation in the offer.