James Ashton: One more mountain to climb, Sir Nigel?

Outlook Eyebrows were raised four years ago when Sir Nigel Rudd took the chair at Invensys, the industrial controls group that agreed to be sold yesterday to Schneider Electric of France. It was too small, too dull and probably didn't have much of an independent future. All that remains true today, except by repairing its finances and plugging its pension deficit, Sir Nigel and his chief executive Wayne Edmunds have made it saleable.

Invensys, created 14 years ago from the troubled merger of BTR and Siebe, won't be missed, even by those that think Britain suffers by ceding control of companies to overseas predators. The question this deal does throw up is: does Sir Nigel have the appetite for one more blue-chip chairmanship to cap an illustrious career?