[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 67 (Wednesday, April 8, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17242-17244]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-9125]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Rel. No. IC-23097; International Series Release No. 1128; File No. 
812-11072]


B.A.T. Industries p.l.c.; Notice of Application

April 2, 1998.
AGENCY: Securities and Exchange Commission (``SEC'').

ACTION: Notice of application for an order under section 6(c) of the 
Investment Company Act of 1940 (the ``Act'') granting relief from all 
provisions of the Act.

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SUMMARY OF APPLICATION: Applicant, B.A.T. Industries p.l.c., requests 
an order under section 6(c) of the Act exempting Allied Zurich p.l.c. 
from all provisions of the Act.

FILING DATES: The application was filed on March 17, 1998 and amended 
on March 30, 1998.

HEARING OR NOTIFICATION OF HEARING: An order granting the application 
will be issued unless the SEC orders a hearing. Interested persons may 
request a hearing by writing to the SEC's

[[Page 17243]]

Secretary and serving applicant with a copy of the request, personally 
or by mail. Hearing requests should be received by the SEC by 5:30 p.m. 
on April 24, 1998, and should be accompanied by proof of service on 
applicant, in the form of an affidavit, or, for lawyers, a certificate 
of service. Hearing requests should state the nature of the writer's 
interest, the reason for the request, and the issues contested. Persons 
who wish to be notified of a hearing may request notification by 
writing to the SEC's Secretary.

ADDRESSES: Secretary, SEC, 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 
20549. Applicant, B.A.T. Industries p.l.c., Windsor House, 50 Victoria 
Street, London SW1H ONL, England.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary T. Geffroy, Senior Counsel, at 
(202) 942-0553, or Nadya B. Roytblat, Assistant Director, at (202) 942-
0564 (Division of Investment Management, Office of Investment Company 
Regulation).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The following is a summary of the 
application. The complete application may be obtained for a fee from 
the SEC's Public Reference Branch, 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, 
D.C. 20549 (tel. (202) 942-8090).

Applicant's Representations

    1. Applicant is a public limited company organized under the laws 
of England. On December 22, 1997, Zurich Insurance Company (``ZIC''), a 
Swiss corporation, and applicant entered into a merger agreement 
pursuant to which the financial services businesses of applicant will 
be combined with ZIC's financial services businesses, through a series 
of transactions. (collectively, the ``Transaction'').
    2. Allied Zurich p.l.c. (``AZ'') will be organized as a public 
limited company under the laws of England in order to effect the 
Transaction. AZ will become a holding company for substantially all of 
applicant's financial services subsidiaries. AZ will exchange the 
ordinary shares of applicant's former financial services subsidiaries 
for 43% of the equity of Zurich Financial Services (``ZFS''), a newly 
created Swiss subsidiary of Zurich Allied AG (``Zurich''), a Swiss 
corporation.
    3. Applicant will distribute to its current shareholders shares of 
AZ. Applicant intends that AZ will be listed and publicly traded on the 
London Stock Exchange. In addition, it is currently under consideration 
whether or not an American Depositary Receipt facility will be created 
in the United States for AZ's ordinary shares.
    4. Concurrently with applicant's restructuring, ZIC will reorganize 
its existing corporate structure by establishing a new holding company, 
Zurich, which will be owned by the former shareholders of ZIC.
    5. As a result of these transactions and reorganizations, ZFS will 
own the financial services businesses of applicant and ZIC. AZ will own 
43% and Zurich will own 57% of the voting stock of ZFS. AZ also will 
hold one series of non-equity shares of ZFS that will not be entitled 
to vote and will receive dividends declared on the series. In addition, 
to facilitate tax efficient dividend payments, AZ will directly hold 
non-equity shares in Allied Zurich Holdings Limited (``AZH''), which 
will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of AFS. AZH will be a holding company 
for several of applicant's former financial services subsidiaries. 
Neither AZH nor ZFS will be an investment company under section 3(a) of 
the Act, and neither will rely on an exemption from the definition of 
``investment company'' under sections 3(c)(1) or 3(c)(7) of the Act.
    6. AZ and Zurich (collectively, the ``Topcos'') will be holding 
companies for ZFS, a corporate structure sometimes referred to as 
``dual listed holding companies.'' The dual listed holding company 
structure will be employed to achieve a unified governance structure 
that will enable ZFS and its subsidiaries (collectively, the ``ZFS 
Group'') to be operated as a fully merged enterprise. Under the dual 
listed holding company structure, the Transaction can be accounted for 
as a ``pooling of interests'' under International Accounting Standards. 
The dual listed holding company structure also will allow dividends to 
be upstreamed from ZFS's operating subsidiaries in a tax efficient 
manner. Through the use of non-equity shares, ZFS can make dividends 
from its United States operating subsidiaries directly to AZ (rather 
than through ZFS, which would subject the dividends to Swiss 
withholding tax).
    7. The sole assets of each Topco will be the equity securities of 
ZFS and other related assets, such as cash received from the ZFS Group 
as dividends prior to distribution to the Topco's shareholders. Neither 
Topco may, without the consent of the other, engage in any activities 
unrelated to its investment in ZFS or transfer or otherwise encumber 
the ZFS shares owned by it.

Applicant's Legal Analysis

    1. Section 3(a)(1)(C) of the Act defines ``investment company'' to 
include any issuer which is engaged or proposes to engage in the 
business of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding, or trading in 
securities, and owns or proposes to acquire investment securities 
having a value exceeding 40% of the value of that issuer's total assets 
(exclusive of Government securities and cash items) on an 
unconsolidated basis. Under section 3(a)(2), ``investment securities'' 
includes all securities except (i) Government securities and (ii) 
securities issued by (a) employee's securities companies or (b) certain 
majority-owned subsidiaries.
    2. Applicant states that because ZFS is not a majority-owned 
subsidiary of AZ, the ZFS shares owned by AZ could be deemed to be 
``investment securities'' within the meaning of section 3(a)(2). 
Applicant also submits that because virtually all of AZ's assets will 
consist of ordinary and non-equity shares of ZFS and non-equity shares 
of AZH, AZ may be deemed to be an investment company under section 
3(a)(1)(C) of the Act.
    3. Section 6(c) of the Act provides, in part, that the Commission 
may exempt any persons from any provision of the Act or any rule under 
the Act if and to the extent the exemption is necessary or appropriate 
in the pubic interest and consistent with the protection of investors 
and the purposes fairly intended by the policy and provisions of the 
Act. Applicants requests an order under section 6(c) exempting AZ from 
all provisions of the Act.
    4. Applicant contends that because AZ will be solely a holding 
company of ZFS, AZ does not raise the concerns underlying the Act and 
is not the type of entity intended to be covered by the Act. Applicant 
also states that the dual listed holding company structure is an 
accepted form of organizing an international enterprise. Applicant 
submits that the corporate form employed by these types of companies 
does not implicate the concerns underlying the Act. Applicants also 
states that such companies function as fully merged business 
enterprises with diverse international public ownership.
    5. Applicant states that AZ, Zurich and ZFS will be operated as a 
fully merged enterprise in a manner similar to that employed by other 
dual listed holding companies. Applicant submits that, from the 
perspective of an investor, AZ will be no different than a traditional 
holding company. Applicant believes that exempting AZ from the 
provisions of the Act would be consistent with the protection of 
investors and the legislative purpose of the Act.

[[Page 17244]]

    6. Applicant contends that AZ's assets are not of the sort that 
Congress was concerned about in creating the Act. Applicant submits 
that, rather than being liquid, mobile and readily negotiable or large 
pools of funds, AZ's sole assets will be the ordinary shares and a 
series of non-equity shares of ZFS, together with certain related 
assets (such as non-equity shares in AZH and dividends received from 
ZFS and AZH prior to distribution to AZ's shareholders). Applicant 
states that AZ is prohibited from engaging in any activities unrelated 
to its investment in ZFS or transferring or otherwise encumbering the 
ZFS securities without the consent of Zurich. Applicant submits that 
AZ's business does not entail the types of risk to public investors 
that the Act was designed to eliminate or mitigate.

Applicant's Conditions

    Applicant agrees that the order granting the requested relief will 
be subject to the following conditions:
    1. AZ will not hold itself out as being engaged in the business of 
investing, reinvesting, or trading in securities.
    2. AZ will not acquire any investment securities as that term is 
defined in section 3(a)(2) of the Act, except securities of ZFS and its 
majority-owned subsidiaries that are neither investment companies nor 
relying on section 3(c)(1) or 3(c)(7) of the Act and for cash 
management purposes, certificates of deposit, banker's acceptances, and 
time deposits maturing within 180 days from the date of acquisition 
thereof, securities issued or guaranteed by a foreign government with a 
maturity not exceeding one year, and shares of money market mutual 
funds.

    For the Commission, by the Division of Investment Management, 
under delegated authority.
Margaret H. McFarland,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-9125 Filed 4-7-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-M