This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Agency overview | |
---|---|
Formed | May 2003 |
Dissolved | 1 April 2016 |
Superseding agency | |
Employees | 130 |
Minister responsible | |
Deputy Minister responsible |
|
Agency executives |
|
Parent department | Department for Business, Innovation and Skills |
Website | https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/the-shareholder-executive |
The Shareholder Executive (ShEx) was a body within the UK Government between 2003 and 2016, responsible for managing the government's financial interest in a range of state-owned businesses for commercial rather than political interests. It was part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and staffed by civil servants, many of whom were corporate finance professionals with private sector experience. It was led by Mark Russell as chief executive at the time of its merger into UK Government Investments.
The Shareholder Executive managed a portfolio of businesses with a combined turnover of around £12 billion. The businesses varied and could be in the form of a limited company, public limited company, limited liability partnership, statutory corporation, trading fund, executive agency, non-departmental public body or non-ministerial government department.
It advised the government on drafting parts of the Postal Services Act 2011 and worked on the privatisation of Royal Mail and the possible mutualisation of Post Office Ltd. It was also involved in establishing the UK Green Investment Bank, the Public Data Group and the British Business Bank. [1]
It was not responsible for the government's shares in UK banks, which were managed by UK Financial Investments (UKFI), or the government's property holdings, which were managed by the Government Property Unit (GPU).
The Shareholder Executive was originally established in September 2003 as part of the Cabinet Office. In 2004 it moved to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
The National Audit Office published a report into the Shareholder Executive in 2007. This was broadly positive but had some misgivings about its location in the DTI.
Following the split of the DTI in 2007, ShEX moved to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and then to its successor, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in 2009.
Early interventions by the Shareholder Executive included efforts in 2004–2005 to save distressed carmaker MG Rover, followed by successful interventions to protect the UK operations of Jaguar Land Rover and General Motors. [2] The Shareholder Executive was involved in the government's nationalisation of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley at the start of the banking crisis in 2008. It then began the process of splitting off Northern Rock's 'bad bank' mortgage business to form Northern Rock. All bank shareholdings were transferred to UK Financial Investments in November 2008.
In 2011, the Government Property Unit was moved from the Shareholder Executive to the Cabinet Office as part of the new Efficiency and Reform Group.
In 2015, the government announced that the Shareholder Executive would be transferred to HM Treasury and become a subsidiary of UK Government Investments, along with UK Financial Investments. [3] This was due to occur with the end of the government fiscal year on 1 April 2016.
The body's first chief executive was Richard Gillingwater, [2] who moved to the chair role in September 2006 and was replaced by Mark Bryant. [4] Stephen Lovegrove was chief executive from June 2007 [5] to 2013, when he became the permanent secretary at the Department of Energy & Climate Change. [6] Lovegrove was replaced by Mark Russell, who had been deputy chief executive since 2008, and continued as chief executive of UKGI after the 2016 merger. [2]
Non-executive chairmen include:
The Portfolio Unit contained businesses where the Shareholder Executive had a shareholding mandate, although the shares themselves were owned by government departments. [9] Its role was either accountable to ministers directly ('executive'), working alongside shareholding teams within departments ('joint team'), or advising department shareholder teams ('advisory'). Most businesses were wholly owned by the government, but some were partly owned.
The Corporate Finance Practice contained businesses where the Shareholder Executive had no clear shareholding mandate. Its role was to provide advice to the relevant government department. [10]
The Shareholder Executive had earlier been responsible for a number of other businesses that were sold, moved to other areas of government or dissolved.
NatWest Group PLC is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Northern Rock, formerly the Northern Rock Building Society, was a British bank. Based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Northern Rock was originally a building society. It demutualised and became Northern Rock bank in 1997, when it floated on the London Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol NRK.
Bradford & Bingley plc was a British bank with headquarters in the West Yorkshire town of Bingley.
Christiani & Nielsen (Thai) Public Company Limited is a construction contractor with major operations in Thailand and Southeast Asia. Originally a Danish company, it is today a listed company majority owned by the GP Group.
Macquarie Group Limited is a global investment banking and financial services group providing banking financial advisory and investment and funds management services to institutional, corporate and retail clients and counterparties around the world, headquartered in Sydney and listed in Australia. Macquarie Bank employs more than 20,000 staff across four operating groups in 34 markets and its Investment Banking division is Australia's top ranked mergers and acquisitions adviser with more than A$871 billion in assets under management and is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager.
In the period September 2007 to December 2009, during the Global Financial Crisis, the UK government intervened financially to support the UK banking sector, and four UK banks in particular.
UK Financial Investments (UKFI) was a limited company set up in November 2008 and mandated by the British government to manage HM Treasury's shareholdings in the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) and in UK Asset Resolution, which held the residual assets of NRAM plc and Bradford & Bingley. UKFI formerly managed the British government's shares in Lloyds Banking Group, until the government confirmed that all its shares had been sold on 17 May 2017. It also previously owned Northern Rock, until that company was taken over by Virgin Money on 1 January 2012. UKFI ceased trading on 31 March 2018, and its business and assets were transferred to UK Government Investments, a limited company wholly owned by HM Treasury.
Sanlam is a South African financial services group headquartered in Bellville, Western Cape, South Africa. Sanlam is one of the largest insurance company in Africa. It is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Namibian Stock Exchange and the A2X. Established in 1918 as a life insurance company, Sanlam Group has developed into a diversified financial services business. Its five business clusters comprise Sanlam Personal Finance, Sanlam Emerging Markets, Sanlam Investments, Sanlam Corporate and Santam.
Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds Bank was founded in 1765 but the wider Group's heritage extends over 320 years, dating back to the founding of the Bank of Scotland by the Parliament of Scotland in 1695.
Jupiter Fund Management is a UK fund management group, managing equity and bond investments for private and institutional investors. The company manages assets across a wide range of international and UK based mutual funds, investment companies and institutional mandates, as well as providing wealth management services. The Company offers a variety of equity portfolios specialising in markets such as the UK, Europe, Asia and other emerging European nations, as well as multi-manager funds and specialist thematic investments such as absolute return funds, socially responsible investment funds and global financial funds. It also has a growing fixed interest franchise, with a focus on investing in high grade corporate bonds, strategic bonds and convertibles. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Bluestone Group is a financial services and technology business with offices in the UK and Ireland.
Airbus SE is a European multinational aerospace corporation. The company’s primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Since 2019, Airbus has been the world's largest manufacturer of airliners as well as the leading helicopter manufacturer.
Glen Richard Moreno is an American businessman. Moreno has worked for several large companies in the United States and the United Kingdom, and worked as acting-chairman of UK Financial Investments Limited which manages the British government's bank shareholdings. He has been Chairman of Virgin Money UK since May 2015.
Sir Stephen Augustus Lovegrove is a British civil servant who was the UK National Security Adviser from March 2021 to September 2022. He led the Shareholder Executive from 2007 to 2013, and then had permanent secretary roles at the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Ministry of Defence.
Centum Investment Company Plc, commonly known as Centum is a public East African investment company. It operates as an affiliate of the Kenyan government-owned Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC).
Green Investment Group Limited (GIG), formerly the UK Green Investment Bank, is a specialist in green infrastructure principal investment, project delivery and the management of portfolio assets and related services. It is owned by the Macquarie Group.
Barclays plc is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services.
Discovery Limited is a South Africa-based financial services group that is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) with its headquarters in Sandton.
Mark Francis Russell is a British businessman and public servant, who since 2019 has chaired Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), the procurement organisation of the UK Ministry of Defence. Previously he was the chief executive of the British government's Shareholder Executive from 2013, and chief executive of the successor body UK Government Investments from 2016 to 2019.
UK Government Investments (UKGI) is a company owned by the Government of the United Kingdom which combines the former functions of the Shareholder Executive and UK Financial Investments. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is based in London.