According to "Bizjournals.com", Like spectators at a tennis match, the public has followed the volleys between Johnson & Johnson and in their quest to acquire Guidant Corp.
The deal’s twists and turns have exposed a negotiation process that is
almost always handled behind closed doors, even for public companies.
Public bidding wars are not necessarily a growing trend, but rather
stem from unplanned events.
Bidding wars take place outside the public purview in 98 percent of cases," said Jack Helms, CEO of Goldsmith-Agio-Helms,
a Minneapolis investment-banking firm. "If a seller approaches the
market properly, [bidding wars] are commonplace, if not universal. When
you see it take place in the public, something changed or the public
company made a deal without running a process."
Steven Kennedy, partner and head of Faegre & Benson’s
public companies practice, said, "The goal is always to get a
competitive bidding process. The boards’ job and the lawyers’ job is to
create a level playing field to permit all interested buyers to
participate."
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