Energis calls Norman to steer UK helm

FORMER Asda boss Archie Norman is poised to return to the stock market by taking the helm of ailing telecoms group Energis.

Norman is being parachuted in by the company's bankers. They plan to recapitalise Energis, which owes more than £1bn, with a £150m cash injection and an effective debt-for- equity swap. Norman will chair a new company, which will take control of Energis' prize UK assets.

Shareholders are likely to lose everything, sources confirm. Energis, once 750p, is now 1.1p.

This is a familiar story to investors in Norman's last stock market venture, Knutsford. Those shares have fallen more than 90% since Norman participated in a highprofilebid to turn the company-into a takeover vehicle, targeting undervalued retailers. It eventually became an obscure dotcom, WILink.

Energis' bankers are hoping instead that he will reproduce the form he showed rescuing Asda last decade, turning an ailing northern supermarket chain into the industry star, before selling it to Wal-Mart for £6.7bn.

Norman's Energis move shows the Tory MP's political star - and ambitions - waning still further.

He was a high-flying front bencher under William Hague, but has since returned to the back benches.

At Energis he will rejoin a fellow former McKinsey management consultant, Bill Trent, the telecoms group's widely-criticised finance director.