Page 76 - Remembering ISTEL

Remembering ISTEL

Employees are being offered a major share in the computer services group
ISTEL, the former Rover Group subsidiary. The privatisation process for ISTEL
was completed today (0 June 1987). Kleinwort Benson Development Capital
and Arthur Young have been advising the management team which has

provided initial equity funding to enable the transaction to be completed.
Kleinwort Benson will lead the consortium of institutional investors who will

be subscribing for a stake in the new company.

The total paid to Rover was £23.1 million with a deferred consideration of £2.1

million. The Rover Group will retain a 25% interest in the company.

The 45 senior managers in ISTEL have already fully taken up the shareholding

offered to them, and now the company's other 1300 employees are being called
to a series of special
presentations in
Solihull to hear full

details of the share
offer being made to

them.

"Because ISTEL is
so very much a

people-based
business, it has
always been our

firm intention to
give all employees

the opportunity of
acquiring shares",
said ISTEL's
Chairman and Chief

Executive John
Leighfield in a

letter sent to all staff today. "I am very pleased that we are able to offer so many
shares to our employees. “We really have achieved what we set out to do."

ISTEL - set up eight years ago this month as BL Systems Limited - had, he said,
“taken really enormous strides from those small beginnings and had grown
from being the computer systems house of BL Cars to one of Britain's leading
computer service companies with sales in 1986 of over £60 million and profits

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