Word: bp
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...months ago, the British government turned to Kuwait as a savior. Under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's grand privatization plan, the government had been ready last October to sell its 32% stake in British Petroleum to the public. Then stock markets around the world crashed. Since the BP shares had been priced far above their postcollapse market value, it seemed certain that few investors would buy them. Enter the Kuwait Investment Office, the London-based agency of Kuwait's Finance Ministry that handles the bulk of the Arab country's overseas holdings. Beginning in early November, the Kuwaitis started...
These days, though, 10 Downing Street must be wondering if the Kuwait Investment Office is friend or foe. Reason: the Kuwaitis are still buying BP shares -- with an enthusiasm that has raised suspicions in Britain. Kuwait has spent some $1.9 billion, bringing its stake in British Petroleum up to 22%, to become BP's largest shareholder. The Kuwaitis insist that they will not seek a seat on BP's board. They initially promised not to raise their stake above 22.5%, but Fauad Jaffar, deputy chairman of KIO, seemed to waffle on that pledge during a recent television interview. Said...
...that a veiled takeover threat? Probably not, since the Kuwaitis know that the British government could thwart any foreign bid for control of BP by simply ruling that such a sale would be against the public interest. BP executives are nonetheless distressed at the size of Kuwait's stake in the company: not only could the Kuwaitis easily change their minds about seeking a role in management but they could also sell their stock to any corporate raider interested in BP...
...Britain's vast array of state-owned businesses back into private hands. But when some 2.2 billion government shares in British Petroleum -- about 31.5% of the company's equity -- came up for sale last week, the result was an enormous bust. In the wake of Black Monday, BP shares already on the market were trading well below the $5.68-a-share issue price of the new offering, and investors therefore shunned the new $12.2 billion flotation. Underwriters were stuck with millions of unsold shares, and could face losses totaling $1.7 billion. Earlier, British, U.S. and Canadian financial institutions had pleaded...
Nonetheless, some countries remain undeterred. Mediobanca, the leading Italian merchant bank, with assets of $130 million, is still expected to go on the block sometime next year. In Britain, despite the BP setback, Chancellor Lawson last week predicted that privatization would go "from strength to strength." The next item of government business is privatization of Britain's $76 billion worth of electrical utilities...