Morgan's tender
ENTERING the water inch by painful inch, shrinking as the chilly waves lap, first at ankles, then at knees, shuddering at the prospect of the greater discomfort next in line, Morgan Grenfell takes the plunge. Shares, we are now told, will be offered to the public for sale by tender, to raise £120 million. Morgan can put it off no longer. It has tried everything else — raising money privately year by year from the City institu- tions, trying to marry Exco the money- broker for its dowry. Can this be the Morgan Grenfell which so busily brings other companies' shares to market, crying `Come on in, the water's fine!' Is it rather Morgan Grenfell the takeover specialist, which, as the limbs of plump companies trail by, fastens upon them its barracuda- like jaws? Morgan's great rival, Mercury (parent of Warburg), now has almost ten per cent of its shares in the unfriendly and speculative hands of Saul Steinberg, the New York financier. Having done so much of this kind of business, Morgan cannot look forward to such risks for itself. Oooh. Brrrrr. Ouch.
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