The ship looks to have sailed on corporate adventures overseas
Spanish bank BBVA made it out of the US market last week with both its dignity and its bottom line intact, but it is an exception to the rule
It begins with the best intentions. A company that has outgrown its home market turns its thoughts to opportunity overseas. Its bosses pick their preferred takeover target, invariably pay over the odds to buy it, and sit back to reap the profits and the kudos that go, or so business schools tell them, with being an international business.
It often ends in tears. When Allied Irish Banks bought First Maryland, a small US bank, in...
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