In a recent interview, Business Minister Lord Mandelson gave the first veiled indication of concern over the increasing number of Britain’s major businesses under foreign control. Mandelson pointed out that while the UK remained committed to open markets for trade and investment entailing that companies should remain open to foreign takeovers, whilst adding that the country should be "mindful" of the implications of foreign ownership

Mandelson’s comments appeared to signal a shift in the government’s open approach to takeovers by overseas firms and come amid a rising tide of protectionism around the world. In response to Mandelson’s comments, union leaders accused Lord Mandelson of "closing the stable door after the horse had bolted".

In his speech, Mandelson forecast that, foreign ownership could "disadvantage" the location of UK manufacturing plants over the next 20 years. His comments emphasised a growing concern as the government seeks to rebalance the economy and lessen the reliance on financial services.

Mandelson’s comments echoed those from City minister Paul Myners, who also has publicly expressed fears that too many British companies were falling into foreign hands because their shares are owned by international funds, and little concern was felt for their domestic heritage.

Britain has been a leading proponent of open markets and countless household names have been taken over by foreign companies. These include BAA, BOC, Marconi, Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester and British Energy.

Mandelson’s comments are bound to reverberate around the Vauxhall plants, fearing for their future after the car maker was bought by Canadian car parts firm Magna as well as at Cadburys where the American giant Kraft has attempted a hostile takeover.

When asked to comment on his speech Mandelson hastened to explain that while globalisation has served the UK well in the past and will do so in the future, there are issues around corporate institutional ownership and responsibility ". A major corporate buy-out by private equity can reshape a community or an industry, and there will always be a legitimate demand for transparency and accountability when that happens." He summed up.

financial

Related Websites

• Blog Commenting For Online PR [/caption] I had recommended to a client that a great...
• My Compliments to Two Companies It's not often that I have praise to give companies....
• Invest Like Warren Buffett? Not Me. Warren Buffet gets a lot of credit for being a...

Tags: Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester, BAA, BOC, British Economy, British Energy, Cadburys, Credit Crunch, Economics, Economy, Financial News, Financial Services, Kraft, Lord Mandelson, Magna, Marconi, Paul Myners, Recession, UK Banks, UK companies, UK Economy, UK government, UK manufacturing, UK Recession, Vauxhall

The Celtic tiger has turned into a pussycat…its official. Ireland, after a decade or more of break neck economic expansion has slammed on the brakes…and how! It is the first euro zone country to slip into recession and my bet is that it won’t be the last…far from it. Everything has turned south…the service sector, manufacturing, construction, financial services and housing. The banks are they latest to fall foul to the global economic meltdown…with some so close to the edge that a state guarantee of their assets was deemed necessary.

The trend in recent year has been the reversal of the out flows of Ireland’s best and brightest who lerft in droves in the 70s and 80s for any work they could find. You couldn’t walk through Dublin airport without seeing a huge poster begging the brains not to get on the planes back to London and New York after the Christmas holiday to see mammy and daddy has finished. Can this trend reverse once again? It will…if the high tech companies that have called Ireland their European base up stick and jump on an Aer Lingus plane with a one way ticket to Lowtaxville.

Ireland was the jewel of the Euro zone project. The shining beacon to the Baltic States, Poland, and the former soviet republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia all eyed Ireland’s remarkable economic turnaround with envy and sweaty, anticipatory palms. “We’ll get ours soon” they all thought, as they admired Ireland from a far like a shy teenager admires the prom queen from across a dancehall.

In reality, they are unlikely to get anything close to what Ireland enjoyed, perhaps with the exception of Latvia which enjoys a well educated workforce and low corporation tax rates. Ireland had a convergence of good fortune and a long time in building a solid base for the prosperity it enjoyed. It trained it workforce, build out its infrastructure with the help of EU handouts and was able to push the corporate tax burden onto its well paid citizens while giving its corporate “guests” a bit of a carrot to do business in Ireland in the form of too hard to refuse corporation tax rates.

The bursting of the property bubble and the slump in construction jobs may well signal a different future for Ireland from its boom times. Will the Irish government be able to resist the temptation to increase corporation tax rates…just a little…to soften the blow to the treasury of all those unemployed former boom town builders who now live off state benefits?

If they can’t resist, it will ensure that the recession becomes deeper and more profound as the very foundation of the Irish boom, well paying high tech jobs from large US tech companies, shifts from rock to quicksand…just as Latvia welcomes Microsoft and Google executives with open arms, keen workers and empty wallets.

---

For More information on specific Banks use these links

• Alliance & Leicester
• Barclays
• Capital One
• Child Trust Fund
• First Direct
• HSBC
• Post Office
• Tesco Savings

---

 

 

For all the best deals on Current bank account, Business bank accounts, Savings and Mortgage deals visit the number one Independent Bank Compassion site Bank—Accounts

Related Websites

• Like any type of investment vehicle, there are benefits to...
• Standard Mileage Rate For Business, Medical, And Charitable Purposes for 2011 and 2010 Below you will find the standard mileage rate for business,...
• 5 Things to Look For When Picking a High Interest Bank If you're interested in leveraging your credit in a safer...

Tags: Bank of Ireland, Construction, Financial Services, Housing, Ireland, Manufacturing, Service Sector