FROM Scottish & Newcastle to HBOS, the story of the Scottish company acquired by an international or cross-border rival is a familiar one.
Advisers get a generous pay-day and fund managers meet their three-month performance targets but another set of senior decision-making roles disappears from Scotland.
So it is pleasing to see AG Barr take the initiative and approach rival drinks company Britvic about a tie-up.
The deal, if it is completed, will leave AG Barr managers in the driving seat, with chief executive Roger White overseeing the combined company.
It looks like a good deal for AG Barr. For many years it has been expanding from Scotland into the north of England where Irn-Bru sponsors the Rugby League. Britvic, which recently moved from Essex to Hertfordshire, has a good presence in the south and has an international operation.
AG Barr's speciality is tempting customers to make impulse purchases at the corner shop. Britvic has strong ties to the on-trade, such as pubs, hotels and other licensed premises.
But whether this deal is good for corporate Scotland will depend on where the combined entity decides to have its headquarters. Mr White's presence in the top job suggests that the outcome might be positive.
This isn't a matter of parochial pride. Headquarters mean skilled jobs for local people. They create work for everyone, from law firms and accountants to those who sell the workers sandwiches.
As it seeks to rebuild from the recession, Scotland can ill afford the loss of another major corporation.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article