. . . Untied Utilities
THESE tactics, familiar in Britain and America, are now being discovered on the Continent. Two big Bavarian banks are merging on such chummy terms that the matchmaker is advising both sides. Over the border in Switzerland, a merger between Credit Suisse and Winterthur will let you insure your car, hoard your gold and open your numbered account, all under the same roof. This should see off Martin Ebner, a troublemaker who owns shares in Winterthur (and in the Union Bank of Switzerland) and has the un-Swiss idea that businesses like these could do more for their shareholders and, possibly, less for their managements. At home, we have United Utilities, the all-electric water com- pany assembled by Sir Desmond Pitcher, who will never now be Lord Pitcher of Water. The troublemakers have got to him. His board is playing for time but the search must be on for his successor, whose first task should be to untie the utilities.
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