Freight group to list

Press, 25 January 1989, Page 26

Freight group to list

Details have been announced for the listing on the London Stock Exchange of the U.K.-based National Freight Consortium. It is a major shareholder in Intermove Pickfords, of Auckland. NFC is a transport, storage, distribution, travel and property group owned by its employees who bought the State-owned enterprise from the British Government in . 1982.

NFC has many subsidiaries, including Europe's longest established removals firm, Pickfords Removals, established about 1750.

Through Pickfords (U.K.), NFC is a majority shareholder in the Pickfords subsidiary in New Zealand, of Mairangi Bay. The listing on the London Stock Exchange will be accompanied by a one for eight rights issue of up to 39.9 million new ordinary shares at a price of 130 p each. Dealings in NFC shares are expected to start on February 6, 1989, and the last day for acceptance and payment of rights is February 24, 1989. In 1982, NFC’s employees, led by a senior management team formed a consortium to acquire the State-owned road transport, removals and travel business for £53.3 million cash. At the time, this was the largest employee buy-out ever carried out in the U.K.

Since then, there has been a high level of employee shareholder involvement in the group. At December 31, last year, there were about 27,200 shareholdings registered in the names of members of the families of employees or NFC pensioners, former employees or members of their families.

Since the buy-out, NFC shares have been traded on an internal market and dealings have taken place quarterly at prices determined by an independent valuer.