Private Equity - BOOTS
Now that KKR has obtained access to the books at Boots, the likelihood of a private equity takeover is very disturbing after the biggest private equity company PERMIRA took over the AA and Birds Eye leading to a loss of over 4000 jobs.
I am writing today to Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State at the DTI, asking that where healthy, well-managed companies like Boots are threatened, he should establish a Takeover Commission to assess whether such bids are in the public interest or not, and to block them if an independent commission judges they are not.
I am asking him to lay down the terms of reference of such a Commission, which should specify the range of conditions which would have to be met to ensure the wider public interest is safeguarded.
One of the conditions should be that a contractual statement should have to be provided by the private equity company about how its takeover would affect the employment, the pay and terms and conditions of existing staff for a specified period.
I am proposing to the Secretary of State that the company would be legally liable for implementing, and not reneging from, the commitments made in its prior statement to the Takeover Commission.