SIR JOHN BANHAM
Sir John Banham succeeded Sir Michael Angus as the Chairman of Whitbread plc in June 2000. He is the former Chairman Tarmac PLC, Kingfisher PLC and ECI Ventures Group, leading provider of venture capital for mid-market management buyouts.
He is also a Director of Merchants Trust PLC and has recently been appointed a Non Executive Director of AMVESCAP PLC. In addition, he is the Chairman of the Government's Retail and Consumer Affairs Foresight Panel.
Whilst Chairman of Tarmac he oversaw a major asset swap between Tarmac and Wimpey. He has also headed Kingfisher acquisitions in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and Singapore. In November 1999, Tarmac recommended an offer from Anglo American plc, which valued the Company at £1.2 billion.
Sir John was Director General of the Confederation of British Industry from 1987 to 1992. Since leaving the CBI, he has been involved in a wide cross-section of companies, in addition to his current appointments. He was Director of National Power for six years until July 1998 and was the Chairman of that Company's Remuneration Committee. He was also a Director of the National Westminster Bank and Chairman of the Bank's Remuneration Committee until 1998, when he stood down after six years service. He was the founding Chairman of Westcountry Television from the Company's green-field start up in June 1992 until it was sold to Carlton Communications in December 1996 for over ten times the original investment. He was Chairman of Labatt Breweries of Europe and a Member of the Board of John Labatt (the parent Canadian company) from July 1992 until September 1995, when the company was taken over by Interbrew, realising significant value for shareholders.
Overall, in the period August 1992 to May 1999. Sir John Banham's portfolio of UK publicly quoted companies (i.e. excluding private equity) has out-performed the FTSE 100 Index by 80%.
Sir John was the first Chairman of the Local Government Commission for England, from June 1992 to March 1995. This review resulted in the creation of 48 new Unitary Authorities in England, and the restoration of the historic boundaries of the Counties of the East Riding of Yorkshire, County Durham, Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire, Somerset and Rutland. At the same time, County Government in England was not abolished as was the case in Scotland and Wales, as the Conservative Government had originally intended.
As a result (compared to the situation in Scotland and Wales) the taxpayers of shire England have saved of the order of £2.2 billion by avoiding the costs that would have been involved in the transition, and a further £1.75 billion a year by avoiding higher continuing administrative costs.