SKINFLINT'S CITY DIARY
Malcolm Horsman is one of Jim Slater's best apprentices and runs Rail! International. This week they bid £11 million for Consolidated Tin Smelters, 70 per cent of whose shares are owned by the Bolivian Indian extraction Patinos. I confess that this bid disturbs me. Consolidated Tin Smelters is part of the Patin° tin empire owning Eastern Smelting Company in Penang and a smelter in Liverpool. The commercial operations of the Penang smelter include some degree of control of the ore output of the small Chinese miners, the few larger independents and contractual connections with larger producers. CTS owns 63 per cent of British Amalgamated Metal Investments which in turn owns 52 per cent of Amalgamated Metal Corporation. CTS is, thus a key company. Were the Patino family (particularly old Antenor, young James and George) approached before the bid was made to see if they were prepared to sell? If they are not, I suggest the announcement of a bid causing a fluster in the market was not a wise move for a group like Slater Walker, who would not dream, I should have thought, of attempting to make money on the stock market by the rise in a share price following a bid which had no chance of succeeding (even if technically the Patinos are outside the Takeover Panel's jurisdiction). Companies like Rail! Brothers International in the Slater Walker orbit have a habit of proving people wrong and the purchase of Consolidated Tin will be a magnificent and cheap addition to Rail!. If, though, they fail I think that those people who bought Consolidated Tin Smelters shares on the strength of their bid should receive an assurance that no Slater Walker company or associate bought or sold shares during the buoyant market conditions created by the news of the bid. Now that conglomerates are bidding for larger companies I suggest the 10 per cent rule for the declaration of holdings by bhe bidder and associates should be reduced from 10 per cent to 10 per cent or £250,000 worth of stock, whichever is the less. If you hold CTS shares, my advice is to sell now and take your profit. If you do not own any shares don't take options or buy or sell short—it is a tricky market to be left to those in the know.
Lord Goodman
Lord Goodman deserves everyone's thanks for the negotiations which have resulted in Sir Alec Douglas-Home's success in Rhodesia. He is a civilised man though a great trencherman with the appetite of a cormorant. When Mrs Harold Lever has him to dinner extra food has to be ordered but now he deserves to celebrate and I have no doubt that many groaning boards will be welcoming him back to England.
Williams Hudson
Again David Rowlands has thought it wise to change the name of his holding company to Williams Hudson from Adepton, once Kings Motors (Oxford). There is a story being put around that he now has the whole-hearted support of Sir Isaac Wolfson and is his new young man. Whilst it is true that Rowlands has borrowed to buy a stake in Lotus shoes and possibly Venesta from Sir Isaac, he is still badly stretched following the ghastly flop of the recent Williams Hudson rights issue. The Dagenham land that came With the Williams Hudson deal had been looked over by other takeover and property people and someone who is as keen as David Rowlands has told me: "There's nothing in it at the price." If you have a discretionary investment account with a merchant bank (I should like to be allowed to tell you more about these and their dangers on another occasion) watch carefully to see that they are not stuffing your account with Williams HudsOn shares that they may have had to take back through a sub-underwriting commitment. If you feel an obligation to let them buy a few Williams Hudson shares' on your account make sure of a generous discount.
Daily Express
Eli million's worth of Daily Express shares changed hands last week and there has been certain conjecture as to the purchaser. Rupert Murdoch of the Sun and Vere Harmsworth of Associated Newspapers have been mentioned as well as, inevitably, Jim Slater. I suppose it is Slater, though Associated Newspapers are stuffed with cash and quick assets. Their South Bank warehouses between the National Film Theatre and London Weekend Television's new tower, have had, though it is not widely known, planning permission for a considerable time.
Lonrho
Tiny Rowlands of Lonrho has his troubles which look a long way from being over. It is not generally realised that the rapid growth of Lonrho by takeover in the late 'sixties was master-minded by Harley Drayton's and later Sir Robert Adeane's 177 Group. They were able to exchange their holdings in a large number of mining and plantation companies for shares in Lonrho, many of which were liquidated before the recent crash in the price. Without the market flurry caused by the takeovers it Is unlikely that they would have been able to dispose of any quantity of shares in the myriad of small companies controlled effectively in Africa.
Gift offers
Each year that passes companies have to become more original with the gifts that they are sending to their regular clients. Balfour Kilpatrick Installations, the electrical firm, are sending a chunky candle "Just in case yours is not a Balfour Kilpatrick electrical installation." Twining's the tea people are offering customers a limited edition of a reproduction of an old English tea jar — not the cheapest way to buy tea at five guineas for twelve ounces. I offer £2 to the most original gift ideas this Christmas—£1 for the best company present, another for the most original personal gift.
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