COLUMNISTS
Resources
Principal content
Lina Saigol has been a business journalist for 14 years and has worked for both The Guardian and Sunday Business.
She moved to the Financial Times in 2000 and has spent the last seven years writing on all aspects of mergers and acquisitions, including breaking news of deals as well as analysis. - -
Caution needed in IPO queue
Over the next few months buy-out groups are expected to dump as many highly leveraged companies as they can on the stock market. Trouble is, mature companies coming to market with their cost structure finely tuned leave little room in the after-market for growth
Cash is king in the book of Bob
A reading from the book of Robert E Diamond III:Chapter One; Verse One: In the beginning there was Bob
Delayed payments bringing bigger rewards
In a market where sellers do not want to offload assets for a low price and buyers are reluctant to pay top dollar, offering a deferred payment consideration can keep both sides happy
Tiring of fast and loose ploy
It’s the due diligence, stupid! That’s the familiar cry from CVC almost every time it launches a high-profile bid only to walk away
Bear hugs lose clout without financial firepower
The old-fashioned bear hug – whereby a bidder publishes an open letter outlining a takeover proposal to pressure the target board into negotiating – is in vogue again
Stock is still valid currency for deals
It’s a buyers market and cash is king, right? That’s what you would expect, given all the banker talk of cash-rich companies preparing to splash their hoard on bargain assets
M&A bankers lose star quality
The bold strategists who engineered the deals that trasnformed the corporate landscape have been replaced by executors with little more than balance sheets
Better to wait out siege by bidders
The ’put up or shut up’ order is one of the best weapons available to a British company under siege, but knowing when to use it calls for skill and sound judgment
Kraft without guile in Cadbury’s bid
The US company seems to have painted itself into a corner over its mooted acquisition of Cadbury, but it is hard to choose the best M&A tactic when you really want an asset
The world’s dealmakers take heart
Kraft’s approach for Cadbury and a potential deal involving France Telecom’s Orange UK and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile UK have raised hopes of a rebound in global dealmaking
