News that two German states are in talks on providing state aid to Continental, the car parts group, and Schaeffler, its biggest shareholder, leaves a bitter taste. True, car parts makers everywhere are struggling; some of North America’s biggest are scrambling to avoid bankruptcy, with their main customers on life support. Continental also entered the downturn with €11.8bn debt, partly from its takeover of the Siemens VDO parts business in 2007. But were it not for family-owned Schaeffler’s stealthily mounted, overambitious and – as it turned out – sorely mistimed bid for its bigger competitor last August, Continental would not be in its current pickle.

To recap: Schaeffler quietly built a 36 per cent stake in Conti using options last summer, and launched what appeared then a low-ball offer for the rest, intending to buy only a minority stake. (It agreed with Conti’s board to cap its holding at 49.9 per cent until 2012.) Conti’s darkening outlook, along with the rest of the auto industry, in autumn prompted far more shareholders than expected to accept the offer, leaving Schaeffler with 90.2 per cent.