Tiny's hand, frozen
The one fixed point in our wayward rules on monopolies and mergers is the Lonrho clause. Under varying Govern- inents, it has invariably been enforced, and, at some stage, reinforced. Never formally enacted, it can be made out with crystal clarity between the lines. The ori- ginal draft read: Find out what Tiny is
doing, and tell him to stop it. The version now in force turns that sequence round: Tell Tiny to stop it, and then try to find out what he is up to. This clause accounts both for the longevity and for the absurdity of Lonrho's struggle with House of Fraser. It was the Monopolies Commission which ruled that for Lonrho to bid for Fraser would be against the public interest — on the far-fetched grounds that Lonrho had textile interests, and might use them to fill the Harrods bedding department with Brentford Nylons. When Lonrho's plans for detaching Harrods started to command a majority in Fraser shareholders' meet- ings, the Commission struck again, seeking to establish whether Lonrho and other shareholders were acting in concert — forming a concert party, as the City likes to say. A thankless inquiry. Trying to find out what Tiny Rowland is up to is the financial equivalent of hunting the snark. At differ- ent times his principal excitement has appeared to be the world's largest platinum concession, the Wankel rotary engine, 50 gold mines which had popped up in Rhodesia during the years of UD1, and the property rights on either side of the track of a trans-African railway. His friends, too, are more colourful than consistent. There was the great alliance with Gulf Fisheries — ah, honest fellows, furling their nets, grounding their dhows, and pointing the camels to Cheapside. . . . That ended in tears, and the new friendship with the Al-Fayed brothers is looking a little rocky this week. Question: if Tiny and Co have really pouched their profit and washed their hands of House of Fraser, why do they not do as the brothers expected, and bow out gracefully from the board? Perhaps the Lonrho clause will set the Commission trying to answer that one. It all provides employment and amusement around the City, Not so amusing, of course, for those who throughout all this have had to mind Fraser's shops. But that is not altogether Tiny's fault.
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