11 AUGUST 1984, Page 16

Jumping Jaguar

To be fair to the merchant banks, it would be hard to do better than Hill, Samuel has done in setting off a stampede for Jaguar. The last time a maker of quality cars came to market, a newspaper seized on the idea of giving its readers the chance to own shares. Eagerly, the City editor was asked: Can you get us some? Yes, he replied, if you don't mind my being tram- pled to death in the rush of sellers. The paper, decently, did not subject him to the risk. The company was Rolls-Royce Motors, which at one point sagged to a third of its offer price, then recovered, and then was swallowed by Vickers, which has had intermittent hiccups ever since. But then, even the most ardent privatisers blanch at bringing the rest of Rolls-Royce to market.