British Energy power plants generate about 14% of UK energy supply.The bid is at 774 pence a share, nine pence more than a previous bid which was rejected.

IN addition to these big name disappearances, at least two small AIM listed companies have also either folded or merged this year.

The loss of big FTSE100 company headquarter functions in Scotland is a big blow. These grand battleships had key senior executive functions at the nerve-centre . The battleships were also serviced by a flotilla of smaller boats - little companies providing ancillary services - printing, distribution, legal and personnel services, catering, cleaning and transport.

But the loss is also to Scottish prestige and our standing in the business world.

A key magnet for inward investors is the existence of a strong corporate base. Companies like to come in where there is already a cluster of b

The loss of AIM companies is also a worry. The reason is that Scotland's business mix is like a Babycham glass - a wide base of lots of small businesses at the bottom, with a wide saucer of big FTSE100 plcs at the top. In between is a perilously thin stem.

Scotland has long been badly in need of small to medium sized businesses with growth potential to make it into the big league. So the AIM attrition is worrying.

Two key ingredients are needed to rebuild our shrinking plc base. The first is a big expansion in entrepreneurialism. Immediate prospects are not good with the banks caught in the grip of a credit squeeze. The availability of credit will be a big constraint on the economy in the coming months.

The second is a supply of surplus risk capital. And you don't need me to tell you what's happened to that.

The problem is not just with nervous venture capitalists. The secondary market in equities has taken a huge knock.

Which small investors now can dare consider buying shares in bombed-out housebuilders and banks for fear that there is a massive short position being held against them? Today's FT reveals that a New York hedge fund Paulson and Co (no relation to Hank Paulson the US Treasury Secretary) had a £292 million position against Royal Bank of Scotland. That's just one hedge fund. Be in no doubt that the short selling this year has been massive and makes a mockery of long-only equity positions. Trust as well as confidence is destroyed.

However, there is one area for hope - the private company sector. Some big Scottish companies such as Clyde Blowers and Cala Homes have de-listed in recent years because they found the requirements of a stock market listing too onerous. The time eaten up by interim and full year statements, the constant rounds of meetings with analysts, fund managers, lawyers, investment bank advisers and the media was time taken away from attending to the business. Cala's management felt liberated when the company de-listed.

But other companies like the profile and status that having a quote on the Stock Exchange brings. And it is also a vital source of capital - look at the huge rights issues organised this year by HBOS and RBS.

For now we will have to batten down for tough times. Let's hope the Scots plc list does not shrink further.