§ Mr. MerchantTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what are his proposals for employees and pensioners of the nuclear electricity industry to participate in the forthcoming British Energy share offer; and if he will make a statement. [25353]
§ Mr. EggarThe Government strongly believe in the positive effects of employee share ownership and I welcome the excellent opportunity which privatisation of British Energy provides for its employees to claim a410W significant stake in the future of their company. This package is comparable to those offered to employees during previous Government flotations and is in line with out intention of extending share ownership as widely as possible.
I am confident that British Energy's employees will be keen to take advantage of the offer and I look forward to seeing high levels of take-up.
Employees of the British Energy Group will be offered free shares to a fully paid value of about £160, plus shares at a fully paid value of about £2 for every year of continuous service within the electricity supply industry on the day before the prospectus is issued.
Employees will also be offered two free fully paid shares for every share bought at the offer price on a matching basis up to a maximum fully paid value of about £500-worth of free shares. Under this element of the package, if an employee bought shares with a fully paid value of £250, he would receive additional free shares to a fully paid value of £500.
These free and matching shares will be available to employees who have completed at least six months' continuous service within the British Energy Group or, where applicable, Nuclear Electric plc, on the day before the prospectus is issued.
In addition, employees will be able to buy shares up to a maximum fully paid value of about £1,400 of additional shares at a discount of 20 per cent. from the public offer price.
Employees applying for shares will be treated on a priority basis, over the general public, up to an individual fully paid limit of shares worth about £18,000.
These discount and priority shares will be available to each person employed by the British Energy Group on the day before the prospectus is issued.
Magnox Electric employees have been part of the effort by the industry which has brought it to the point where the more modern part can be privatised. The co-operation of Magnox has been vital in the run-up to the restructuring of the industry, which took effect at the end of March. In recognition of this co-operation, special arrangements have been made for employees of Magnox Electric to participate in the British Energy share offer.
Employees of Magnox Electric will be able to buy shares in British Energy up to a maximum fully paid value of about £1,400 of additional shares at a discount of 20 per cent. from the public offer price. Employees applying for shares will be treated on a priority basis, over the general public, up to an individual fully paid limit of shares worth about £18,000. The discount and priority shares will be available to each person employed by Magnox Electric on the day before the prospectus is issued.
Pensioners of both the British Energy Group and Magnox Electric will be able to apply on a priority basis, over the general public, for shares up to a fully paid limit of about £16,600.
411WThe extent to which employees and pensioners will be able to apply for shares on a priority basis, over the general public, may be subject to scaling down if the number of shares applied for by employees and pensioners exceeds a prescribed proportion of the total number on offer.
Further details of the share offer arrangements will be made available individually to employees and pensioners in due course. These will include, where applicable, the requirements of the Inland Revenue as they apply to these offers.