Scots help themselves
JUST as a group of Welsh financial fixers is a Taffia, so the equivalent in Edinburgh is a MacHination. It will normally include the landlord of a border county, a fund manag- er from Charlotte Square, an accountant from Momingside and a Writer to the Signet (`hoping, dear Signet, that this finds you as it leaves me . . . ') One MacHina- tion stopped the Royal Bank of Scotland from being taken over, by claiming that this would reduce the career opportunities for Scottish bankers. Another formed up when Barclays wanted a buyer for its one-third interest in the Bank of Scotland. Down the hill from The Mound, where the bank has its seat, was the Standard Life, which promptly bought the shares and sat on them. From this helpful gesture, Standard has now made £650 million, and is arrang- ing to pass the shares on again. Some may be scattered as far as Dundee. The big one that got away was Distillers, a Scottish com- pany so badly run that there was a fortune to be made from its improvement. In the event, Guinness made it. The Scottish funds might have had it for themselves but they did not like to disturb Distillers' board, which was itself a classic MacHination.
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