Babcock/VT: Three Cheers for Andy Brough!

Time and again Pro-Gov has warned that many mergers get pushed through at the expense of the selling shareholders. Giving the bidder access to the target's books tilts the favor against ordinary shareholders who are left with less information on which to base their decisions. The same can be said to the tactic of 'sounding out' the major institutional shareholders. All communication should be strictly on a public basis - similar to the regulations for disclosure of information in public offerings (esp in the USA). So we are glad that Andy Brough tries to put a spanner into the Babcock bid - after all, the shareholders of the bidding company are also often reduced to being the unwilling accomplices of a CEO's ambitious empire building.