§ Mr. HainTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 8 December,Official Report, column 231, if he will provide details of fees paid to underwriters associated with the share sales of British Telecom, British Gas and the regional water companies.
§ Mr. DorrellNo. Fees paid to underwriters as part of the privatisation programme are treated as commercially confidential. Total fees paid to underwriters are quantified within the relevant National Audit Office reports published by the Comptroller and Auditor General. For the sales requested, with the exception of the BT secondary sales which were not underwritten, the total fees paid to underwriters were:578W
£million BT 1984 74.0 British Gas 1986 60.0 Water 1989 33.2
§ Mr. HainTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 8 December,Official Report, column 231, if he will provide details of fees paid to advisers and underwriters associated with the privatisation and share sales of the regional electricity boards, Powergen and National Power.
§ Mr. DorrellNo. Fees paid to advisers, underwriters, and so on as part of the privatisation programme are treated as commercially confidential. Total fees paid to advisers are quantified within the relevant National Audit Office reports published by the Comptroller and Auditor General. For the sales requested, the total fees, excluding VAT, paid to advisers and underwriters up to 31 December 1991 were:
£million Advisers Underwriters Regional Electricity Companies 1990 28.8 36.6 Generating Companies 1991 17.2 14.9