VSEL (Hansard, 3 November 1994)

§ Dr. David Clark
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the powers accruing to him from the Government's golden share in VSEL.

§ Mr. Freeman
The principal rights attaching to the special share in VSEL are:

(a) to veto disposal of the whole, or a material part, of the assets, and any voluntary winding-up, of the company;

(b) to speak at shareholders' meetings; and

(c) to veto changes to certain of the Articles of Association which prevent any one party controlling more than 15 per cent. of the equity and require that the Chairman, Chief Executive, Managing Director and a majority of all Directors are citizens of the United Kingdom.

§ Dr. David Clark
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with(a) GEC-Marconi and (b) British Aerospace over a takeover of VSEL.

§ Mr. Freeman
Ministers and officials of my Department have had a number of discussions with both GEC and British Aerospace on this subject.

§ Dr. David Clark
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what assessment he has made of the implications of the possible takeover of VSEL by(a) GEC or (b) British Aerospace for future decisions for the procurement of batch 2 Trafalgar class nuclear submarines;
(2) what assessment he has made of the implications of a takeover of VSEL by (a) GEC or (b) British Aerospace for the Government's competition policy in the defence sector.

§ Mr. Freeman
My Department will, in the usual way, be giving its views to the regulatory authorities on the1236W competition and any other relevant aspects of the possible takeover of VSEL. Those views are confidential.