One of the most vicious corporate battles of recent times is brought back to life in a new book by Bernard Ginns, the former business editor of the Yorkshire Post.
Outcast reveals how maverick northern industrialist Andrew Cook fought back against the City and media establishment to protect the manufacturing company founded by his Victorian forefathers from a raiding party backed by powerful financial institutions.
The hostile takeover bid dominated the national business news at the end of the last Conservative government, a time of social, economic and political change and the dawn of a new era in Great Britain.
In advance praise for Outcast, Celia Walden, US editor-at-large at the Daily Telegraph and a Richard and Judy Book Club author, said: “A great new voice in narrative nonfiction. Tense, taut and beautifully paced. I read it in one sitting.”
Martin Vander Weyer, business editor of The Spectator, said: “Bernard Ginns has written a gripping true-life takeover drama with a complex protagonist, Andrew Cook, at its centre: this is the cut and thrust of business, in and out of the City of London, as it really happens.”
Andy Bounds, EU correspondent at the Financial Times, said: “Outcast takes you inside one of the toughest takeover battles in the merger boom of the late 1990s… It is populated by a fascinating cast of characters from the City and the media.”
Garry Wilson, managing partner of transformational private equity investor Endless LLP, said: “Andrew Cook has a unique approach and is one of the most interesting people in British business… A fascinating story well told by Bernard Ginns. Read and learn.”
Mark Casci, ex-business editor of the Yorkshire Post, added: “This is a hugely enjoyable book… I thoroughly recommend it to anyone with an interest in business, modern history and underdog stories.”
Bernard Ginns wrote Outcast during the pandemic. It is his first book. The authorised account is based on archives, diaries and unpublished memoirs of Sir Andrew Cook CBE, chairman of Sheffield-based William Cook Holdings.
Bernard Ginns was business editor of the Yorkshire Post from 2008-16. Previously he was editor of an award-winning media start-up and a staff reporter at The Mail on Sunday. Today, he runs the specialist communications consultancy Branksome Partners, which is based near Ilkley.
Outcast is available now on Amazon.
