Lazards' Nott L azards' chairman Ian Fraser chides me for my
note last week (`No, Sir John') about his bank and his successor-designate, Sir John Nott, the former Secretary of State for Defence. It was (I had said) unfortunate that Lazards should be in- volved in three privatisation issues where a principal customer, or the principal cus- tomer, of the business concerned was the Ministry of Defence. Mr Fraser replies that for the privatisation of the Royal Ordnance Factories (ROF) the Ministry appointed Rothschilds to advise, and that Lazards was retained by the chairman of ROF to represent ROF's independent in- terest. Lazards won that retainer in a `beauty contest' in which Sir John did not take part: he is, says Mr Fraser, naturally aware of the advice being given, but has avoided becoming part of the team. At British Aerospace, Lazards was appointed by the Department of Industry at the time of the takeover approach from Thorn EMI, and Sir John has not been involved. At British Shipbuilders, Lazards has been advising since 1977, was put on the short list for the sale of the warship yards, and was not surprised to have won the beauty contest. Sir John (Mr Fraser says) played and plays a significant role in this, but the appointment was British Shipbuilders', and had nothing to do with the Ministry of Defence.
Previous page
