Sack Vince Cable Now! - Part 1 Lazard

[Gromit]

The advisors that Cable used to set the pice for Royal Mail shares was given preferential 'golden ticket' and made £8million when they sold them a day later. The price they set undervalued Royal Mail. They sold if for £1.7Billion, and a week later it was worth £2.7billion. We were diddled out of £1billion.

For such incompetance (or crookery) Cable should be sacked.

// The row over Royal Mail has been inflamed after it emerged that Lazard Asset Management, the investment arm of the Government’s adviser on the historic privatisation, was one of the 16 “priority” investors in the flotation.
Lazard Asset Management was allocated six million shares in the flotation as one of the core investors handpicked to underpin Royal Mail’s initial public offering (IPO). Despite being chosen to form a long-term, stable shareholder base, the investment house sold the stake a few days later making a profit of £8m. //

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-mail/10799532/Royal-Mail-row-priority-investor-Lazard-sold-shares-after-a-week-for-an-8m-profit.html

[ToraToraTora]

That's what happens when you have Lib Dems in Government!

[Quizmonster]

TTT, do you seriously imagine that this happened solely on the say-so of the LibDem, Cable, without his ever setting it before the (Tory) Prime Minister and Chancellor for approval?

[ToraToraTora]

The tongue is firmly in the cheek QM!

[ludwig]

How come Part 1 came after Part 2?

[youngmafbog]

The problem is that it is easy to sit on the side lines and snipe after the event. If he had priced it higher and it had been a flop no doubt you would be relentlessly posting about how incompetent he was.

£1m does seem an awful difference though. I thin it should be looked at closely (and independently) to ensure no dodgy dealing.

[Quizmonster]

I did wonder, TTT, but I'm happy to have your confirmation!

[royfromaus]

1 billion YMB

[royfromaus]

The preferential 'golden ticket' investors are the ones that should have been locked in for a stated period of time.

[ToraToraTora]

No one is locked in roy, the phrase in this context shoud read "locked in unless you want to pay tax" - The big boys have already factored that in and are often partof a more complex financial situation.

[Gromit]

The Royal Mail workers are locked in. They cannot do anything with their shares for 3 years. The 'Golden Ticket' investors were supposed to be in for the long haul but it seems some dashed in after a couple of days.

[DTCwordfan]

Sack Vince Cable Now! - Part 2 What If Lazard

Can you imagine Gromit's brouhaha and rhetoric if the issue had failed?

Much on the same lines me postulates adjusted for not getting his sums right or those of his advisers.

And this from a man who supports a party that sold the UK gold reserves at cheap prices, costing the economy a fortune in hindsight, as Gromit's comments are based, on hindsight...

[Gromit]

DTCword,
How many UK privatisations failed because they were overpriced. None.

I do not and never have supported Labour. I have only once voted Labour, and that was over 30 years ago.

[237SJ]

Vince Cable is my local MP and I hate to say this but he is actually quite good.

[DTCwordfan]

Exactly my point, conservatism (not Tory politics) keeps them from going close to the edge price wise and to err on the safe side of the price.....therefore trying to slate VC, or any Minister of what persuasion for 'failure' is a bit rich. However, hindsight opens up the gold seam, so to speak and, unfortunately for the Labour gold reserves story.

I worked with Vince in my distant past and he's a heck of an economist, especially on energy matters/policy.

[Gromit]

£1billion is a spectacular margin of error even for one of your old chums.

[Gromit]

// Gromit's comments are based, on hindsight... //

// hindsight opens up the gold seam //

It wasn't hindsight, as soon as the price was announced, many realised the company was undervalued. The FT said it was, and a few days before the sale, Labour said so and was cannily spot on...

// Royal Mail undervalued, says Labour's Umunna

The privatisation of Royal Mail undervalues the company by as much as a £1bn, with City investors and hedge funds being the biggest beneficiaries of the share offering, says Umunna.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Umunna said that the sale is "short changing" taxpayers. //

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24426116