SCHEME BRIEFLY OUTLINED.
Inasmuch as the full details of this Agreement have already appeared in the daily papers, I do not propose to do more than comment upon one or two of its main features. Briefly, it is proposed that a new company should be formed entitled Viekers-Armstrongs, Limited; and that this company should have an initial capital of L-21,000,000. To this new company will be sold certain fixed assets, including certain shipyards, plant, &c., both of Vickers and of Armstrongs, and it is on the basis of a valuation of the respective assets contributed that Vickers are to receive in return 25,000,000 in Ordinary Shares, £1,500,000 in " B " Preference Shares and £2,000,000 in " A " Preference Shares in the new company, while Armstrongs will receive £2,500,000 in Ordinary Shares and £2,000,000 in " B " Preference Shares. Then, as regards the new Board, Vickers will again have pre- dominance, the Chairman being General the Hon. Sir Herbert Lawrence, at present Chairman of Vickers, while six members of the Board will be nominated by Vickers and four by Armstrongs. The nominations by Vickers are confined to members of the existing Board of that company, while the four nominations by Armstrongs include, in addition to the two members of the present Board of Armstrongs, Sir Otto Niemeyer, of the Bank of England, and Mr. E. R. Peacock, of Messrs. Baring Brothers.
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