But the battle between the two pharmaceuticals giants shows that, despite the efforts of some countries to maintain elaborate takeover defences, the walls may be slowly beginning to crumble.Aventis, a Franco-German group, has bought itself some time by launching an appeal against a decision by France's financial-markets authority that there are no grounds to block the bid.
In 1971, Lewis Powell, a corporate lawyer, wrote a pivotal essay outlining manifold ways that large business interests could engineer a corporate takeover of the democratic process in America in order to maintain their dominance.
The charges related to the £11.8bn emergency fundraising conducted by the bank in 2008 as it struggled to maintain its independence and avoid a government takeover.
Mr. Gaviria said both sides were close to resolving important issues like the government's takeover of the Caracas police force and use of troops to maintain order in the city.
A little later in the year, Mr Hunt and Mr Smith had another email exchange - over the plan to spin off Sky News so as to maintain media plurality, while allowing the BSkyB takeover to go ahead.
But the company gave contractual commitments as part of the takeover that include promises not to change the name of the Jack Walker Stand and to maintain the club's principal activity as a professional football club.
Admiral Godfrey put Fleming in charge of Operation Goldeneye between 1941 and 1942; Goldeneye was a plan to maintain an intelligence framework in Spain in the event of a German takeover of the territory.
- Pete Station Takeovers Get the city's giant corporations to sponsor subway stations where they would use their own contractors to maintain them.
It called for a halt to takeovers of corner shops by supermarkets, tighter planning restrictions in the suburbs and the establishment of a new regulator to maintain a "vibrant, diverse and sustainable retail sector".
SIR —Your article on foreign takeovers by Indian Companies detailed some recent transactions but failed to mention that takeovers of Indian companies, especially hostile ones, are almost impossible thanks to a combination of government restrictions, shareholder inertia and unfair rules which allow company promoters to maintain controlling stakes.
