NFC golden shares deal
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• Tycoon National Freight Consortium workers, whose shares in the employee-owned company have now leapt to an incredible 70 times their original 2.5p 1982 privatisation value, are to be given special double-value "golden shares" when NFC is floated.
The Stock Exchange has agreed that because of the "unique nature" of NFC it will bend its strict rules to give a double vote to employee shareholders in the event of a takeover bid. The special shares will be vested in the NFC Share Trust which administers the internal market in NFC shares.
The arrangement is a victory for NFC chairman Sir Peter Thompson. "The special share does not make NFC bid-proof, but it does mean that a potential bidder will need to win the support of employee shareholders. We think this compromise works well," he says.
"What matters is that the Stock Exchange has recognised the importance of employee participation in NFC's success. This will clear the way for introduction of NFC shares to the Stock Exchange in 1989."
The lorry drivers, warehousemen and their families who bought the bargain shares six years ago voted overwhelmingly in February to float the company, but many expressed worries about the NFC shares being snapped up by predators.
Each 21 worth of shares bought in 1982 is now worth 270, and 400 NFC employees are now said to have become half-millionaires. Thompson's shares are worth 22.85 million. NFC expects to make 263 million this year and its latest valuation is 2550 million. About 24,000 of the 30,000 employees have shares: they own 83% of the company.
NFC will reveal the exact plans for the flotation and the compromise with the Stock Exchange next week.
A management buyout at NFC subsidiary Sonitrol, which makes security alarm systems, is possible. Its bosses are looking at ways to raise cash and, if it goes ahead, it would be the first internal buyout since NFC was privatised in 1982.