5. TP on Acquisitions 1. Big + Big = Disaster. (Statistically.) (There are exceptions; e.g., Citigroup.) 2. Big (GE, Cisco, Omnicon) acquires small/specialist = Good … if you can retain Top Talent. 3. Odds on achieving “projected synergies” among Mixed Big “cultures”: 10%. 4. Max Scale Advantages are achieved at a smaller size than imagined. 5. Attacked by Big, Mediocre Medium marries Mediocre Medium to “bulk up.” Result: Big Mediocrity … or worse. 6. Any size— if Great & Focused—can win, locally or globally. 7. Increasingly, alliances deliver more value than mergers —and clearly abet flexibility.
This paper is devoted to the study of transparency of the largest Russian companies. These days Russia is one of the most rapidly developing countries of the world. Doubling Russia’s national product in 10 years is an ambitious but realizable goal, according to Horst Keler, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as stated at a press conference in Moscow November 2003. However, the IMF Chief stressed that Russian authorities must devote more attention to developing the finance sector and strengthening the banking system [i ] . The world’s largest investment funds closely examine the possibility of investing part of their funds in Russian assets. The number of Russian companies listed at western stock exchanges increases every year, and at the same time, the weight of Russia in the index of developing countries is growing, and first of all in the Emerging Market Bond Index Plus (EMBI+) [ii ] , a product issued by JP Morgan Bank. Strictly speaking, Russia can be called a developing country with great reserve. In October 2003, the international credit rating agency Moody’s awarded Russia with investment grade status for the first time, thus opening the doors for foreign direct investment and fresh capital flows to the country. Russia’s Baa3 rating, the lowest of investment grades, will reduce the cost of borrowing for the Russian government and help Russian companies get cheaper finance in the international capital markets [iii ] . [i] ‘IMF Chief Charts a Path to Doubling Russia’s GDP in a Decade’ - Rosbalt’s News Agency, 16 November 2003, Moscow. [ii] JP Morgan Bank www.morganmarkets.com : EMBI+ [iii] ‘Moody’s Rating Puts Russia on Investment Map’ - Financial Times - 9 October 2003, London.