Mr. Brian Murphy:

That the taxpayer should take equity up-front is an interesting concept. Before the finance issue is closed off, the major sponsor - the major promoter - would have to release some of its equity to the market to institutional investors. The reaction from the market is not altogether in favour of this proposal, for a number of understandable reasons. There is a real concern that if the taxpayer were to have a significant equity interest and seats on the board, this could create conflicts of interest. I can foresee situations where serious conflicts of interest could arise. More important, perhaps, there has been comment by professional investors in the industry that it would make it much more difficult for them to invest if they were put in a position where they would have to carry the bid risk and costs and then just before financial closure, they would have to offload a lot of their equity. I could see this being a problem.