This widely condemned brutal terrorist attack challenges humanity's conscience and cannot be justified in any measure.Meng Mian Spokeswoman of the Chinese embassy LondonEmerging-market mergersSIR – Isn't your leader on business in emerging markets simply another way of highlighting the poor record of corporate takeovers ("Submerging hopes", March 8th)?
Falling bond and loan prices indicate that private equity firms may struggle to profit from their investments, after a record $1.4 trillion of takeovers in 2006 and 2007.
Led by the likes of Bain, Carlyle Group and Apollo Management Group, the private equity firms made headlines with record takeovers of a number of the nation's iconic companies.
That would push the value of the bid up to £63bn, a record for a takeover of a UK firm by a foreign one.
It spotlights the unlikely coalition of ranchers, big-city mayors and environmentalists that stymied Gov. Rick Perry and spurred the record $45 billion takeover of Texas's biggest electric company, TXU.
If such a deal were to occur, it would be big enough to rival AOL's record $165 billion takeover of Time Warner.
The deal surpasses the previous technology takeover record of $49bn paid by eBay for payment processor PayPal in July, according to Dealogic.
Rivals say this is how Merrill Lynch won a big role in the record takeover of HCA, a health-care group, in July, for $33 billion including debt.But regulators or a market downturn may yet spoil the fun.
The all-stock transaction shattered the previous record for a takeover deal, America Online's $165 billion purchase of Time Warner announced less than three weeks ago.
"It is important to place on record that his takeover proposals have required a significant leap of faith by the board," Clarke said.
The bank's executives got the deal-making bug and embarked on an orgy of acquisitions, gobbling up more than 24 companies in the next eight years - culminating in the £50bn record-breaking takeover of ABN Amro just as the credit crunch started to bite.
