Meanwhile, BUA became a growing burden on the Cayzers' as a result of its disappointing financial performance, a situation made worse by the unexpected loss of one of its most important IT customers to the newly formed BEA Airtours. This led to an approach to both corporations, with the intention of selling BUA to one of them. BEA, which was approached first, refused because it considered the price Sir Nicholas was asking for BUA — £9 million – too high. A subsequent approach to BOAC proved to be more successful. Sir Keith Granville, BOAC's then MD, agreed to purchase BUA from B&C for £7.9 million. Roy Mason, the President of the Board of Trade, gave the Government's preliminary approval to BOAC's proposed takeover of BUA, on the understanding that there were no realistic prospects of a merger with another independent airline as recommended in the Edwards report.