Word: mergers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Suddenly the merger whirlwind started blowing once again last week, into every corner of the economy. Chrysler's agreement to buy AMC was only the most stunning of a series of takeover bids and pacts that swept through the boardrooms of airline companies, book publishers, casino operators, shoemakers and retailers. Says Thom Brown, chief of investment policy at Butcher & Singer, a Philadelphia-based investment-banking firm: "There are so many deals in the works that it's hard to keep a cap on them...
...unexpected flurry seemed to defy a whole host of forces. Many Wall Streeters had thought tax reform would put at least a temporary damper on merger activity by taking away some of the deductions that help make the deals attractive. Another concern was that the insider-trading scandal would hurt the ability of investment firms to raise money for takeovers. A third impediment to mergers has been the continuing surge in stock prices, which has made takeovers increasingly expensive...
...acquire Supermarkets General for $1.6 billion would join two retailers. Dart owns discount auto-parts stores and book outlets, while Supermarkets General specializes in food and drugs. Some analysts suspect that the Haft family, which controls the Dart Group, would be perfectly content to stop short of an actual merger and sell its current shares in Supermarkets General at a profit...
...craps tables. Real Estate Developer Donald Trump last week announced a $101 million acquisition of Resorts International. Resorts owns two Atlantic City, N.J., casinos, including the Taj Mahal, which will rank as the world's largest gambling hall when it is completed next year. When the merger is accomplished, Trump will control some 15% of Atlantic City's assessed real estate...
Even as Trump and his fellow moguls were sorting out the final details of their deals, legislators in Washington were fuming about the latest spate of mergers. Some believe the Justice Department has acted irresponsibly in failing to challenge so many takeovers. While the volume of mergers has more than doubled since 1980, the number of federal court challenges to proposed transactions has declined by more than a third. Complained Democratic Senator Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio during hearings held last week by a Senate subcommittee: "Merger mania is rampant in this country today because the Reagan Administration has turned...