The on-going slowdown has depressed share prices to levels where acquisitions have become viable. And the political vaccuum has created the ideal opportunity to move in for the kill without the government's intervention. Adding to the ammunition, the financial institutions are signalling, for the first time ever, that they will no longer protect existing owners of companies from takeover bids. Corporate restructuring is creating a market for both acquisition and disposal of business units. Two years of economic slowdown are causing shakeouts in many sectors, forcing losers to exit.
Share prices are low enough to make acquisitions of large equity stakes feasible in terms of price.
A formal Takeover Code has laid out the mechanism for both hostile and negotiated takeovers. Unanticipated added costs instead of anticipated economies of scale. Paralysing cultural mismatch instead of energy-enhancing managerial synergy. On the contrary, the benefits of a successful acquisition are powerful, offering as they do dominant marketshares, the strength of sheer size, and unique competitive advantages. In other words, the acquisition must enable you to achieve the same objectives as you intended to with your strategies.