CITY AND SUBURBAN
A bid for the Lord Mayor's bank needs a touch of Mansion House polish
CHRISTOPHER FILDES
It is something new when the Lord Mayor of London is on the receiving end of a takeover bid, but Lord Levene is an unusual Lord Mayor. He doubles as chair- man of Bankers Trust International, and Bankers Trust is in Deutsche Bank's sights. This requires a new immemorial City tradi- tion (so I can disclose) with its own ceremo- nial, as follows: the Lord Mayor receives the Master of the Worshipful Company of Germans. The Master approaches the Lord Mayor, who gives him a raspberry. The Gardeners, Wirepullers and Puffers then perform the Ceremony of Leaking and Planting. The Master returns with an offer and the Lord Mayor summons the Sword- bearer. All proceed to the Stock Exchange, where the Lord Mayor denounces the offer as opportunistic, unsolicited, uncalled-for, unprincipled and not enough. At a dinner at Billbrokers' Hall, the Lord Mayor stress- es the international nature of the City. It is, he says, like the Ritz Hotel, open to all, if they are properly dressed and have the money. He then enters the Silver Bentley of State and proceeds to Peterborough Court, where he is received in the Marble Hall by the Guild of Goldmen and Sacksters. (A sackster is a mediaeval term for a banker who leaves black plastic sacks on the desks of his staff, indicating to them that they should climb in and be carried away.) The Chief Partner of the Goldmen spreads his hands wide apart. This signifies his formal advice that the Germans are mug punters with more money than sense and can be made to pay up, though they will need to order more sacks. There follows the Clos- ing Ceremony, at the Mansion House, where the Lord Mayor welcomes the Mas- ter and, even more so, his cheque for $10 billion. After this the normal business of the City's local government resumes.
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