Call for MPs who bought shares to admit how much they made

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Royal Mail: Call for MPs who bought shares to admit how much money they made

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mp ... al-2471552" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Shadow Environment Minister Huw ­Irranca-Davies wants MPs who forced through reveal to say if they profited from the deal

MPs who snapped up Royal Mail shares should be forced to reveal how much money they made, Shadow Environment Minister Huw ­Irranca-Davies has demanded.

He said: “Tory and Lib Dem MPs forced though this deeply unpopular fire sale on the country.

“So in the interests of good and open democracy, MPs need to come clean on whether they and their immediate families have personally profited from selling the family silver.”

Under current rules, MPs do not have to declare small shareholdings.

But Mr Irranca-Davies has written to Labour MP Kevin Barron, head of the Parliamentary Standards Committee, asking if Royal Mail shares should be a special case as MPs voted for the sale.

[UnhappyGremlin]

That would be an interesting read.
It would also explain why many were inactive prior to the flotation, even though many spoke out against it.
Wonder how many publically opposed the sale, but bought shares?

[vmaxv4]

Name & shame,
Bring it on...

[cloherty1976]

Would that mean the MPs have £750 worth of shares and have made £350 if they sold there shares? Not really much of a story unless they have managed to acquire larger share holdings from the beginning I feel.

[nataddick]

This idiotic response pre-supposes that the MP's across all parties had some kind of 'insider trading' information that enabled them to benefit from the sale.

I bought shares in Royal Mail and will probably sell them at a profit. I read the Prospectus and I am financially qualified so should I make a disclosure along with all other employees and their families. I know loads of people at work that told members of their families to 'buy in' close to the minimum investment.

It is the Bankers, the Con/Dem Government and the BIS department in particular that are responsible for selling RM at a 'knock-down' price.

Labour as a Party failed to support the CWU and the posties - so they have lost my vote and hopefully the backing of the CWU.

[chrisj]

natadickk

You are absolutely right. The max an ordinary investor can buy is £750 - not a big deal.

And if some of the rich MP had gone all the way by investing more than £10000 then they would have got nothing.

What a non-story

The real issue is the chosen few (about 20) fund managers, banks, hedge fund and foreign investors that were hand-picked. The rumour is that George Osborne is closely involved with one of the Hedge funds.

Anyway, this was a Vince Cable affair...

[baldrick]

Might be of more interest to know how much worth of shares MPs tried to buy. If they bid for up to £10k worth they would only have got £750 worth, but if they bid for more than £10k worth they got none.

[hantsman]

Might be of more interest to know how much worth of shares MPs tried to buy. If they bid for up to £10k worth they would only have got £750 worth, but if they bid for more than £10k worth they got none.

Doesn't matter, it was £750 minimum for outsiders.

[baldrick]

Might be of more interest to know how much worth of shares MPs tried to buy. If they bid for up to £10k worth they would only have got £750 worth, but if they bid for more than £10k worth they got none.

Doesn't matter, it was £750 minimum for outsiders.

It does matter. Outsiders could apply for unlimited amounts, minimum £750. If MPs were applying for say £10k, £20k, £50k, £100k etc it could have been relevant to their attitude to the sale of Royal Mail. They wouldn't have known that they could only get £750 max before hand.

[hantsman]

Might be of more interest to know how much worth of shares MPs tried to buy. If they bid for up to £10k worth they would only have got £750 worth, but if they bid for more than £10k worth they got none.

Doesn't matter, it was £750 minimum for outsiders.

It does matter. Outsiders could apply for unlimited amounts, minimum £750. If MPs were applying for say £10k, £20k, £50k, £100k etc it could have been relevant to their attitude to the sale of Royal Mail. They wouldn't have known that they could only get £750 max before hand.

No buts that's all they got, and the word was that this might happen before it closed.

[chrisj]

Asking them how much they would have invested is like trying to pry into their bank accounts...

The government has definitely undersold RM and they rushed into the sale for political and ideological reasons.

Undervaluing* the share price for a successful floatation is normal but it is the extent that is worrying and called into question the advice** they got and the vested interest (the handpicked few that got the bulk of the shares).

The biggest mistake they made was to guarantee a sizeable dividend return on top of an undervaluation, That just made the company super attractive and that is why some other fund management, banks, hedge funds and the likes are desperatedly acquiring the shares at more than %50 over the floatation price.

* The government still have more shares to dispose of so the second instalment should really not be below the first instalment because RM will not really be that successful in 3 or 5 years time...

** The idea that RM could have been sold for £2.6 billion really draws into question the integrity of the companies, advisers and RM involved in the original valuation. They were warned that RM was worth £5 billions and some including Chuka Umuna (Labour) argues that the property portfolio was grossly unvalued...