Spoke to Nada about 30 minutes ago and she said that unfortunately, companies are permitted to request the shareholder register from Capita under some rules which require public companies to disclose (I can't remember which rule it was but Nada knows).
She said that if anyone is contacted about their holding they should check to make sure the company is approved by the FSA
before they discuss anything.
Nada reckons that a lot of these ‘unsolicited’ offers are usually made by companies who are not qualified to buy and sell shares in the UK and are likely trying to make money by getting involved in these people’s holdings.