The Growing Monpolisation of British Industry

from Pat Jordan Recent articles in the press have cormented upon the boom in take-overs and the corresponding monpolisation of British industry. The Financial Times of January 31st published a rajor article on the subject by Christopher Tugendhat - who first noted: "Thorn Electrical Industries' agreed £155m, bid for Radio Rentals marks the culmination of a memora’sle month for mergers and take-overs. There have been more important announcements during the last four weeks than in any comparable period since the War..." He went on to refer to the merging of the National Provincial and Westmirster banks, the merger of Schweppes and Typhoo Tea, tle coming together of Leyland and British Motor Holdings, and the Ric Tinto Zinc's £55m, offer for Boras:, "These are only the most important development," he added, "there are meay other deals under negotiation, and it is a rare day that passes without new mames added to the list..." Furthermore, "this tremen— dous spate of takecvers is one of the reasons why share prices are reaching new record levels, despite the certainty of an unplesant budget..." He continues: "Al hough January is in a class of its own, the events of the last four weeks enould be looked at in a wider context. During 1967 quoted U.K. companies spent nearly £1,000m, on mergers with other quoted U.K. companies. This was nearly three times the average for the years 1959-63, and more than eight times the average for the period 1954-58. There is reason to ' believe that the trend will continue to gather momentum during 1968. Sincer and Friedlander recently reported that there are 225 businesses up for sale on its 'mergers and amalgamations register', and Chesham Amalgamations says in its annual report that 100 new clients went to it for help with their amalgamation programmes." This was in addition to 400 already on its books. The Government has played a key role in this process, Tugendhat notes: "Over a wider field the Government sponsored Industrial Reorganisation Corporation --has been ...strikingly successful. It was the IRC which acted as the + essential catalyst wheh English Electric took over Elliott—Automation; the GEC bid for AEI arose out of a series of IRC-sponsored investigations and discussions and enjoyed the IRC's support; and the IRC was again the 'marriage broker' when Leyland and BYH came together, In the English Electric—Elliott deal the IRC provided a special loan of £15m, and another £25m. was forthcoming for Leyland and BMH. One the likely consequences of perhaps the most famous of the recent mergers has been widely cormented upon in the newspapers: the likelihood that some 34,000 workers are to be made redundant because of the GEC take-over of AEI. The Evening Standard of January 29 noted that the "Monopolies Act was nof proving a tough hurdle...to take-over and merger activity...Since 1965"(when the new act came out) "around 120 proposed mergers have been considered by the Board of Trade, Only seven have actually been referred tc the Monopolies Cormission, and only two were turned down following its report..." Thus we get a picture of a growing monopolisation of industry which is heing fostered by the Government, The unions at all levels should regard this trend with seriousness, Apart from the usual redendancy that occurs once rationalisation ensues, the larger the unit the employers are organised in the more difficult it is for the unions to confront them. Unions should create bodies which ccrrespond to the growing strength of individual employers. Every help and encouragement should be given to combine shop stewards committees, where official union support is not forthcoming shop stewards should come together themselves,