The UK’s national electricity network is owned and run by National Grid.
HM Opposition (the Labour party) are proposing it is nationalised if they win the UK general election.
What would it cost for the UK Government to buy back National Grid from the investors who own it today ?
Share Price is about £10 a share.
Total voting rights
http://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/national_grid/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=374&newsid=868275
3,753,238,483 are the shares in circulation
Thus:
3,753,238,483 x £10 = £37,532,384,830
That is £37 Billion pounds which is just about the UK’s current annual defence budget.
Also, if the UK Government bought National Grid, it has to take on it’s debt.
That debt is over £25bn.
So, potentially spends £37bn to buy it and needs to cover the £25bn of debt.