History
Actis was created in 2004 as a spinout from CDC Group and a 60% stake was sold to CDC managers and staff for a total consideration of £373,000. The new company was given a five-year 'umbrella' guarantee that it would continue to manage all CDC's existing overseas investments totalling $900 million in CDC funds. According to the UK's Department for International Development, the price was agreed after a valuation by financial advisers KPMG. Under the 2004 deal that created Actis, if the company was to be sold on the open market within 10 years, 80% of the profits and proceeds would go back to the government.
In 2007, UK prime minister Gordon Brown came under attack over the sell-off of Actis after it became apparent that the formerly government-owned business had made millions of pounds for its former employees.
On 1 May 2012 the Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, announced that the state's remaining 40% stake had been sold to the Actis management for an initial £8m. The deal also included a share of future profits that could be worth over £62m to the UK Government.
Read more about this topic: Actis Capital
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of the prophets. He saw with an open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it, and had his being there. Alone in all history he estimated the greatness of man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The history of the Victorian Age will never be written: we know too much about it.”
—Lytton Strachey (1880–1932)