May the post be with you
13 September 2012
When Abbey had to tell its 1.8 million shareholders about a bid to buy the company, among the many hurdles to delivering the enormous document was competition from Star Wars. Helen Riley reports
On 17 September last year, the 1.8 million shareholders of financial services giant Abbey received a mailing from the company containing details of its proposed acquisition by Spanish bank Banco Santander Central Hispano. But this was no ordinary letter or leaflet.
Each 400-page pack weighed in at about 1 kilogramme – roughly the size of a mail-order catalogue...