§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list each company privatised since 1979 with the total share issue in each case.
§ Sir George YoungIt is not practical to list all companies that have been privatised as many were subsidiaries of nationalised industries and were sold by the parent body, not the Government; consequently, information is not held centrally for all such sales. The table shows the companies privatised by Government and the major subsidiaries sold by their parent body. For each, the equity proceeds accruing are also given.
757W
Major privatisations Company Year of sale1 Gross equity proceeds2£million BP3 1977 8,334 Fairey 1980 15 British Aerospace 1981 700 Cable and Wireless 1981 1,432 Amersham International 1982 71 NFC 1982 54 Britoil 1982 998 Associated British Ports 1983 100 International Aeradio 1983 60 Victaulic 1983 8 Enterprise Oil 1984 392
Major privatisations Company Year of sale1 Gross equity proceeds2 £million Jaguar 1984 297 Sealink 1984 66 BT 1984 14,654 VSEL 1986 60 British International Helicopters 1986 14 National Bus Company (62 separate subsidiaries) 1986 7— British Gas 1986 5,584 Leyland Bus 1987 4 Unipart 1987 30 British Airways 1987 892 Royal Ordnance 1987 190 DAB 1987 7 Rolls-Royce 1987 1,348 Istel 1987 48 BAA 1987 1,225 British Transport Advertising 1987 40 National Seed Development Organisation 1987 66 Rover Group3 1988 150 Professional and Executive Recruitment 1988 6 British Steel 1988 2,500 Travellers Fare 1988 12 British Rail Engineering (BREL) 1989 14 General Practice Finance Corporation 1989 145 Harland and Wolff 1989 8 Short Brothers 1989 30 10 water and sewerage companies 1989 5,113 Giroleasing 1990 33 Girobank 1990 112 Scottish Bus Group (10 separate subsidiaries) 1990 7— 12 regional electricity companies 1990 45,182 National Power/PowerGen 1991 52,228 Scottish Power/Scottish Hydro-Electric 1991 2,918 National Transcommunications 1991 48 Insurance Services Group 1991 70 Trust ports 1992 8 BTG 1992 628 Northern Ireland generating companies 1992 356 PSA projects 1992 +44 Northern Ireland Electricity (distribution company) 1993 348 5 PSA building management companies 1993 10 DVOIT 1993 5 Londoon Buses (10 separate sales to date) 1994 7— Forward 1994 5 DTELs 1994 7 Belfast International Airport 1994 33 1 Year of the first sale. There may have been secondary offers or the first sale may have been one of a suite of sales of subsidiaries. 2 There may in addition have been proceeds from the redemption of debt. 3 Technically not a privatisation as the company was already classified to the private sector. 4 Including the national grid which was owned by the regional electricity companies. 5 The Government retain about 40 per cent. of each company. 6 Includes dividends extracted pre-sale. 7 Proceeds of individual sales initially retained by the parent body. 8 Proceeds were split between the relevant port authorities and the Government.