Alliance and Leicester shareholders vote through takeover
They could not sign their voting papers quick enough with the markets collapsing, rivals struggling under the strain and the US in an even worse state than the UK. 'D' Day came today for Alliance and Leicester shareholders as they waved through the takeover of the group by Spanish outfit Banco Santander thanking their lucky stars that the board had actually accepted the offer when they did. If the Santander was to bid today, what would the terms be?
The whole Alliance and Leicester affair is a prime example of the fact you never know what is around the corner. When the deal was announced there was uproar with shareholders claiming that they had been sold out on the cheap and many looking to vote against the deal. In reality the deal was agreed with the larger institutions and it was done before private shareholders had even seen the announcement. Can you imagine the pressure the group would have been under now had it still been a stand alone business?
Many are suggesting that financial markets could take upwards of a decade to work through the pain of the last few months. This seems a very reasonable comment when you consider how the third world debt situation affected the banks back in the 1980s and how long that dragged on for.
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