Ethics of city take‐overs

IN the autumn of 1967 I was actively concerned in the defence of AEI against the GEC bid. GEC made an offer to the AEI stockholders; the offer was increased twice; within six weeks from the first announcement a bare majority of the AEI stockholders accepted the offer. In this way, the whole future of AEI was transformed; the future of its directors and many of its officials and employees was changed; all its ordinary stockholders eventually became interested in another company; the structure of the electrical manufacturing industry underwent critical changes and the formation of the merged company precipitated other changes.