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| Vince Cable: foreign firms could be fined for breaking takeover promises | Vince Cable: foreign firms could be fined for breaking takeover promises |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Foreign companies may face fines if they fail to live up to binding commitments to protect areas of vital national interest in takeover bids, Vince Cable has said. | Foreign companies may face fines if they fail to live up to binding commitments to protect areas of vital national interest in takeover bids, Vince Cable has said. |
| The business secretary said the coalition was prepared to introduce legislation to ensure there could be no "wriggle room" for companies to abandon commitments such as those given by Pfizer in its recent bid for AstraZeneca. | The business secretary said the coalition was prepared to introduce legislation to ensure there could be no "wriggle room" for companies to abandon commitments such as those given by Pfizer in its recent bid for AstraZeneca. |
| But Cable said the Liberal Democrats were hoping to go even further, to introduce a "laser missile" approach to force companies that refuse to enter negotiations to sign up to commitments. | But Cable said the Liberal Democrats were hoping to go even further, to introduce a "laser missile" approach to force companies that refuse to enter negotiations to sign up to commitments. |
| Speaking on BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show, Cable cited the example of Pfizer, which gave assurances during its recent takeover bid for AstraZeneca to protect its research and development (R&D) base. In future, companies could face multimillion-pound fines if they fail to live up to their commitments. | |
| Cable said: "It is good for Britain to have inward investment. We have had very good foreign companies investing here – the Jaguar Land Rovers of this world. We want more of that. | Cable said: "It is good for Britain to have inward investment. We have had very good foreign companies investing here – the Jaguar Land Rovers of this world. We want more of that. |
| "On the other hand, there will be cases where there are vital national interests, in this case large-scale investment of R&D. The question is how you protect it. What the government did then [during Pfizer's proposed takeover] was to engage in negotiations to seek assurances. Where we now have to strengthen that is to make sure that with any commitments made there is no wriggle room." | |
| Cable said the coalition partners had agreed on the proposals and might introduce legislation. But the Lib Dems want to go further and force commitments on companies that refuse to enter into negotiation. | |
| He said: "Supposing the company don't want to negotiate or they are not willing to give the assurances you need. You then need some fall-back powers. You need a last resort where the government can intervene, can invoke the public interest. The Liberal Democrat view is that we need to do this with a laser missile rather than a cluster bomb." | |
| Cable hit back at the Commons business select committee's claims that the government had lost the taxpayer £1bn by underselling Royal Mail. Shares were priced at 330p and now stand at around 473p. | |
| The business secretary said: "There was a real risk this would never happen. The taxpayer would then have been left with billions of pounds of liability. It is all very well to be wise with hindsight. It is facile. At the time it was very clear that the correct judgment was made. That was the view of the independent advisers, it was as a result of extensive market survey, it was the advice of the officials, it was the advice of the Conservative minister who was responsible for the sale that we could not sell at a higher price. Under those circumstances there was no alternative but to do what we did." | The business secretary said: "There was a real risk this would never happen. The taxpayer would then have been left with billions of pounds of liability. It is all very well to be wise with hindsight. It is facile. At the time it was very clear that the correct judgment was made. That was the view of the independent advisers, it was as a result of extensive market survey, it was the advice of the officials, it was the advice of the Conservative minister who was responsible for the sale that we could not sell at a higher price. Under those circumstances there was no alternative but to do what we did." |
| Cable described Tory plans to change the law to increase the threshold for trade union strike ballots are "potty". | |
| He said: "I don't think there's any need for them. We have far fewer strikes than we had in the past and industrial relations are generally very good. The particular proposal that they are making that no strike should be valid unless over half of the union members have voted for it is simply potty. Most MPs wouldn't be validly elected if that was the test. We have got police [and crime] commissioners with 15% turnout. I think the proposal is nonsense." | |