Validus countersued in August, charging that Transatlantic had set up obstacles to merger negotiations.
Computer software concern the Division Group, was also in demand, as it, too, owned up to merger talks.
But that spate of deal announcements doesn't herald a coming surge in bank transactions anytime soon, according to merger specialists and analysts.
The top firms tend to reinforce this impression by chasing all sorts of business, from risk consulting to merger advice anything rather than tabulating a company's books.
A number of delegates said the first step to merger should be an agreed SDLP-Fianna Fail candidate in Northern Ireland at the next European elections.
DealBook » I.S.S. Comes Out Against Transatlantic's Deal With Allied | The opposition by Institutional Shareholder Services is another big blow to merger of Transatlantic Holdings with Allied World Assurance.
If the Delta board consents to merger discussions, any deal could still take months to work out and talks could easily fall apart.
The FPL executives had wasted a bunch of their shareholders' money on a failed transaction but took what amounted to merger bonuses anyway.
These experts point to merger negotiations between MCI and British Telecommunications in 1996, before WorldCom bought MCI, as one of the most egregious examples of merger compensation abuse.
And few analysts would have predicted that America Online and Time Warner would be able to come to merger terms, given the disparities of their stock market valuations.
As the market regained some poise - mainly due to merger developments and easing fears about Syria - Pearson missed out on the rebound.
