How to spot a takeover target

Patience, hard facts and asking the right questions will reveal the businesses with potential

The number of Irish companies listed on the stock exchange is quite small. The number that are under-managed is, happily, quite small too. So bids aren’t too common.

I can only recall two in the past decade: one for Fyffes, the other (more recent) for Smurfit Kappa. What both companies have in common is a history of family dominance and family succession, the latter is not always good news for shareholders if the ...