How they do it at British Aerospace

Twenty years ago, British Aerospace's investor relations couldn't have been easier. The chairman just phoned the British government, which owned the company that grew from the merger of the former Hawker Siddeley and British Aircraft Corporation. In 1981, the government began to sell its stake, unloading it completely by 1985. Even then, as Britain's premier defense company, it was still under restriction to prevent foreign ownership that might prejudice the country's military independence. That