Peter R. S. Earl
Peter Richard Stephen Earl | |
|---|---|
| Add a Photo | |
| Born | January 20, 1955 |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States of America |
| Occupation | Investment banker |
Peter Richard Stephen Earl (born 20 January 1955) is an investment banker who was one of the pioneers of demergers in the City.[1], [2], and was joint leader of the 1993 DHL Mount Everest|Everest Expedition on which Rebecca Stephens became the first British woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest [3].
He is the founder and CEO of Independent Power Corporation PLC, a British power developer [4]. He served for ten years as Chairman of Trustees of the Oxford Philharmonic, the University of Oxford’s professional orchestra in residence [5]: and remains a trustee of a number of educational charities providing bursaries and student support in Britain and overseas [6].
He is the Chairman of Biwater Group, a British water treatment company providing large-scale water solutions worldwide [7].
Early Career
Earl was part of The Boston Consulting Group before he joined Orion Bank in 1980, where he worked with Christopher Chataway on cross-border take overs [8].
He later co-authored the Euromoney textbook International Mergers and Acquisitions [9].
While at Orion, he initiated the attempted rescue and re-capitalisation offer for Laker Airways[10]
Earl was one of a team recruited in 1982 by Arab Bank Corporation (ABC), the large Gulf commercial bank owned by the governments of Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Libya, to establish ABC International, a new investment bank in London of which Earl was a founding director [8], and which played a role in underwriting the first Thatcher era privatisation of British Telecom plc. In 1985 Earl established his own corporate finance business, Ifincorp Earl but subsequently renamed Tranwood Earl, which was specialising in the new field of demergers [11].
Start of Demergers
Prior to 1980, UK tax incentives encouraged companies to merge to create ever larger conglomerates but there was no tax efficient mechanism to reverse that process. The 1970s had seen waves of “asset-stripping” takeovers of underperforming groups by aggressive companies which were referred to by politicians and commentators as “the unacceptable face of capitalism”. In the 1980 Budget Statement, the Thatcher government announced demerger provisions to encourage conglomerates to be dismantled for the benefit of their own shareholders rather than corporate raiders but these provisions were complex and companies were unwilling to risk such untested corporate reconstruction moves. It was not until 1986 that the first official demerger offer was launched by Peter Earl through The Demerger Corporation PLC, a company established to promote demergers of undervalued companies.
Earl’s demerger bid target was Extel Group PLC, founded in 1872 and one of the oldest companies on the London Stock Exchange which had owned and operated the first working transatlantic telegram cable. The offer was supported by David Stephens’ United Newspapers and Robert Maxwell’s British Printing and Communications Corporation (BPCC) but it failed just short of the 50 per cent support level[12]. The subsequent Demerger Two offer for London & Northern received institutional support and led to successful demergers of Nolton and TACE as well as the £2 billion contested offer for Sir Terence Conran’s Storehouse Group which was derailed by the October 1987 Black Monday stock market crash[13]. By 1990, demergers had become an accepted part of corporate reconstructions worldwide leading to the agreed demerger of Hanson (company)|Hanson PLC in 1996[14].
Mount Everest
In 1993 Earl was Joint Leader of the British 40th Anniversary Everest Expedition, on which Rebecca Stephens summited. The expedition raised funds for Sir Edmund Hillary’s Himalayan Trust [3]. Earl co-founded with Dr Sandy Scott the Everest Memorial Trust [15], which rebuilt and installed a wind turbine for oxygen concentrators at Pheriche Hospital in the Khumbu, close to Everest [16].
Publications
Earl co-authored the Euromoney textbook International Mergers and Acquisitions [9]
References
- ↑ Wheatcroft, Patience (February 1, 1986). "Unknown Company Makes No Cash Bid for Extel". The Times.
- ↑ Phelps, John (February 1, 1986). "£173m Bid to Split Up Extel". The Standard.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Rebecca, Stephens (1994). On Top of the World. London Macmillan.
- ↑ "The Independent Power Corporation PLC". Companies House.
- ↑ "Oxford Philharmonic Trust". Charity Commission Register.
- ↑ "City of London School Bursary Trust, Khanya Educational Trust, Everest Memorial Trust". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
- ↑ "Biwater Announces the Appointment of New Company Chairman". Biwater Group.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "New Non-Executive Director". Ascent Resources plc. 15 May 2006.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Earl and Fisher, Peter and Frederick G. (1986). International Mergers and Acquisitions. Euromoney Publications. ISBN 0 903121 93 X.
- ↑ Freidman and Donne, Alan and Michael (February 8, 1982). "£35m Laker Airways Rescue". The Financial Times.
- ↑ Leonard, Carol (14 March 1992). "Business Profile: Peter Earl". The Times. p. 19.
- ↑ Bachelor, Charles (1986-01-02). ""Extel Rejects £173m Demerger Bid."". The Financial Times.
- ↑ Wheatcroft, Patience (1986-11-17). "Earl with the Urge to Demerge". The Daily Mail.
- ↑ Dwyer, Paula (1996-02-12). ""The Urge to Demerge hits Hanson"". Bloomberg.
- ↑ "The Everest Memorial Trust". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
- ↑ "The Everest Memorial Trust. 24 Apr 2017". Youtube.
External links
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