As it is, he has had to bear some of Imro's disciplinary costs.But Mr Percy surely protests too much about the oppressive powers of financial regulators and the blamelessness of his position. Chief among these is that but for the fact that he is a relatively rich man, able to afford the legal costs of fighting the regulators, he would be facing much tougher disciplinary action - including a fine and prolonged ban. But neither Mr Percy's undoubted talents nor any sympathy we might feel for the blameless skipper absolve him from responsibility for what happened. Mr Percy makes some good points in the statement he released after accepting Imro's official reprimand. Mr Percy had faith in Mr Young, and he trusted the procedures he had established to ensure compliance He was mistaken on both counts.

Then along came Peter Young and destroyed Mr Percy's career, as well as profoundly damaging his company. Few people in the City feel anything but sympathy for what happened to Mr Percy "There but for the grace of God go I," many said privately. Under his watch, Morgan Grenfell Asset Management became one of the largest and best-performing money managers in the City, attracting tens of billions of pounds in new funds. KEITH PERCY used to be one of the stars of the investment management scene. The danger is that in his desperation to cut one and with it his move back to Buffalo, he will allow his shareholders to be disadvantaged.. There is talk that LucasVarity may stitch up a series of alliances with several partners.

But if further cost-cutting in an increasingly competitive world is the real name of Mr Rice's game, then the cleanest deal is a straightforward takeover. Whereas the "merger" of Varity and Lucas in 1997 never pretended to be anything other than a US takeover of a once great but faded British engineering name, on this occasion the boot will be on the other foot.Bar none, the suitors Mr Rice is talking to are bigger than he is, which means he risks negotiating from a position of weakness. Unfortunately it is not clear that the merger plan has any more to commend it than the straight switch of domicile approach. There is no shortage of US appetite for LucasVarity stock right now and as the French car parts maker Valeo has shown, a New York listing is not a prerequisite for a top-notch rating.Still, Mr Rice obviously feels more at home on the other side of the pond, and by hook or by crook, he seems determined to have his company based there. The preliminary merger discussions that LucasVarity's chief executive has entered into with a variety of rival US car components groups, led by TRW, look designed to achieve the same end. Who would bet against Mr Rice getting his way? As even a strong-minded chairman like Ed Wallis discovered, when Mr Rice puts his shoulder to the wheel, there is little option but to push with him, jump out of the way or risk being flattened.The arguments advanced in favour of securing a US-listing - that it would improve LucasVarity's stock market rating and give it easier access to capital - always looked a little tenuous. Having failed to get shareholder approval to relocate LucasVarity from Birmingham to Buffalo, New York, Victor Rice, its chief executive, seems intent on achieving his goal of a New York listing by other means. Arcadia, the former Burton multiples division, distributed 47 million mini-catalogues last year.