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European companies more indebted than their US peers


Mister Moobs
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Prior to the financial crisis took hold, European companies were as aggressive as any in deal making, with Spain's Telefonica /quotes/comstock/06x!stef (ES:TEF 17.00, -1.90, -10.05%) buying O2 for 17.7 billion pounds, or $32 billion at the time, and Britain's Imperial Tobacco /quotes/comstock/23s!a:imt (UK:IMT 1,777, -3.00, -0.17%) buying Altadis for 16.2 billion euros, or $22.4 billion at the time, among other mega deals.

In 2007, European-acquirer deals totaled $1.99 trillion with U.K-led acquisitions making up $534 billion of that total, according to data compiled by Dealogic.

Although deal activity has dropped sharply in Europe with the advent of the financial crisis, tailing off to $439 billion year-to-date according to Dealogic data, Kraft Foods /quotes/comstock/13*!kft/quotes/nls/kft (KFT 26.52, +0.25, +0.95%) recent takeover offer for British chocolate maker Cadbury /quotes/comstock/23s!a:cbry (UK:CBRY 786.50, +1.00, +0.13%) has set investors wondering if a wave of deal making is imminent.

European equity strategists at Credit Suisse believe that deal-making is set to increase from this point -- but only for some companies.

"U.S. and U.K. companies are cash rich," they said. This is a key driver for potential M&A, they believe. But Continental Europe companies are more indebted than their global and especially U.S. peers, the Credit Suisse strategists say.

So much for European thrift and fiscal responsibility. lol

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An Austrian farmer, Johann Thiery, had been fined and threatened with prison for selling "apricot marmalade" made from a traditional Austrian recipe passed on by his grandmother. Under EU rules "marmalade" can only be made from citrus fruit. Sternly defending Mr Thiery's punishment, a European Commission spokesman said: "The law is the law." Next day Pedro Solbes, the EU's economics commissioner, was reported as defending the right of France and Germany to run up huge budget deficits, in flagrant breach of the Growth and Stability Pact. "Given the circumstances we face," he said, "it would be unwise to follow the letter of the law." (Sunday Telegraph Christopher Booker 26/10/2003 )
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  • 2 weeks later...
DAMN THEM ALL!!!

What kind of pills you take?

Ever laugh about anything?

You actually think that was a serious remark?

Maybe you should take a pill.

You know....all that laughter is medicine stuff....give me a fuckin' break

Why do some folks have to take a little harmless joking and become dickheads? It's really a bit beyond me. But, hey, run with it. :roll:

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DAMN THEM ALL!!!

What kind of pills you take?

Ever laugh about anything?

You actually think that was a serious remark?

Maybe you should take a pill.

You know....all that laughter is medicine stuff....give me a f*ckin' break

Why do some folks have to take a little harmless joking and become dickheads? It's really a bit beyond me. But, hey, run with it. :roll:

Ha ha ha.

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I wouldn't have expected any less then total kaos as Wall street is international. I laughed when the "Mexican" stock market collapsed during the Clinton years and the US tax payers bailed out "Mexican" wall street with billions of dollars. I mean hell car parts would go way up right ? I mean really aren't americans trading in Mexico. Isn't Wall street international in scope. You can go online and buy Indian stocks etc. Tell me if I'm wrong traders !

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