Last week, I (Mark Brader) wrote:
The distinction is meaningful because from 1933 until 1947,
although London Transport had been forcibly unified and brought
under public control, its ownership was still private.

And Charles Ellson responded:
There was no ownership, it was a statutary corporation.

It was a statutory corporation, but it issued dividend-paying stock,
and the owners of the previous private transport companies received
shares of LPTB stock in place of their shares in their former
companies. There were several classes of preference shares and then
there were the ordinary or "C" shares, which were intended to pay 5%
for the first 2 years and then 5.5½%. If this was not met over a
three-year period, the stockholders had the right to put the
corporation into receivership#. To me that adds up to ownership
even if they didn't have the right to control the LPTB's actions.

#-It wasn't, but they didn't. The full dividends on the preference
shares were paid, but after that there was only enough to pay
dividends of 3.5½%, 4%, 4%, 4¼%, 4%, and 1½% on C shares in the
6 years 1933-34 through 1938-39. The stockholders held a meeting
but there was no consensus that a receiver was warranted. And then
the war came and the government took control.

See "A History of London Transport", vol. 2, chapters 15-16, and
"Rails Through the Clay", 1993 edition, chapter 11.
--
Mark Brader | "...it's always easier to see the mud when it's
Toronto | coming toward your side rather than from your side."
| --Mike Kruger

My text in this article is in the public domain.