§ Mr. WilsonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the costs incurred so far on the proposed sale of Her Majesty's Government shares in National Power and PowerGen; and if he will estimate future costs associated with this sale.
§ Sir George YoungThe costs of the National Power and PowerGen share offer will be reported to Parliament after the sale has been completed. Sales proceeds will be appropriated-in-aid of the expenses of the sale. Because a large proportion of the costs are dependent upon the strike prices obtained for the shares in the international offers, it would be potentially misleading to the House for me to estimate the total costs for this sale at this point.
§ Mr. WilsonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the solicitors, banks, brokers, advertising agencies and public relations companies appointed to advise on the sale of Her Majesty's Government shares in National Power and PowerGen, with a statement of fees incurred so far in each case.
§ Sir George YoungThe table shows, in the order of their appointment, the appointments of solicitors, banks, brokers, advertising agencies and PR companies made by HM Government for the National Power and PowerGen share offer. Fees paid to firms as part of the privatisation programme are treated as commercially confidential.
68WThe National Audit Office expects to examine the sale in due course. If it does so and a report is published by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the total fees paid to advisers will be quantified.
National Power and PowerCen share offer—solicitors, banks, brokers, advertising agencies and public relations companies appointed Month of appointment Company Role(s) March 1994 Barclays de Zoete Wedd1 Financial Adviser Kleinwort Benson1 Global co-ordinator Global lead manager March 1994 Slaughter and May2 Legal advisers April 1994 Dewe Rogerson PR/Marketing adviser May 1994 Davis, Polk and Wardwell2 US legal advisers July 1994 WCRS3 Advertising agency July 1994 Lloyds Bank Lead receiving bank July 1994 Royal Bank of Scotland Receiving bank November 1994 Lloyds Bank Interim registrar (National Power) November 1994 Royal Bank of Scotland Interim registrar (PowerGen) December 1994 Tsunematsu Yanase and Sakine2 Japanese legal advisers December 1994 Stikeman, Elliott2 Canadian legal advisers December 1994 Barclays de Zoete Wedd International manager December 1994 Kleinwort Benson International manager December 1994 Cazenove International manager December 1994 Paribas International manager December 1994 UBS International manager December 1994 SG Warburg International manager December 1994 Goldman Sachs North American manager December 1994 Merrill Lynch North American manager December 1994 JP Morgan North American manager December 1994 NatWest Markets North American manager December 1994 RBC Dominion North American manager December 1994 Argentaria Rest of World manager December 1994 Robert Fleming Rest of World manager December 1994 Lehman Brothers Rest of World manager December 1994 Mediobanca Rest of World manager December 1994 Nikko Rest of World manager December 1994 West LB Rest of World manager January 1995 Bank of New York Interim depositary Notes1:
Firms act jointly
2Appointed by the Treasury Solicitor
3Appointed by the Central Office of Information