When Pilkington agreed a bid from its largest shareholder Nippon Sheet Glass in 2006, there was barely a peep of protest from politicians or public about transferring a historic British industrial company into foreign hands.

There was concern. A flotilla of big blue-chip groups – Allied Domecq, BPB, BOC, P&O – had recently succumbed to foreign bids and the London Stock Exchange was under siege from Nasdaq. Where the British market in corporate control was wide open, other countries were declining to liberalise, or actively slamming down the protectionist shutters. What about reciprocity, some critics complained?