He joined with Italy's Agnelli family, which controls the Fiat industrial group, in a friendly counter-bid for Worms.

ECONOMIST: Insurance mergers in Europe

He could put together a counter-bid along the lines of the Olivetti-Tecnost scheme.

ECONOMIST: Telecom Italia

There has been talk of a rival offer for Allied, though some competitors are more likely to counter-bid than others.

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If the bid proposal becomes a formal offer, it looks unlikely that Sanofi will have to face a higher counter-bid.

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On Monday, the ex-NYSE director summoned top bankers to listen to his arguments for a counter-bid for the 212-year-old stock market.

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Deutsche Telekom concluded that it would not counter-bid for O2 in part because of fears of antitrust action arising from its own big presence in the German mobile market.

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Most fund managers would certainly like a counter-bid.

ECONOMIST: Telecom Italia

American rival Warner Music Group, which had been expected to make a counter-bid for EMI last year, has also attempted to restructure in order to stem declining compact disc sales and capture more digital revenues.

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Aides familiar with late drafts of the president's speech also said Bush will make a spirited defense of his administration's enforcement efforts -- an bid to counter Democratic efforts to paint the White House as too cozy with big business and, more specifically, to defuse calls for Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt to resign.

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Many ADRs are very liquid, others like those that trade over-the-counter on the pink sheets can be illiquid so the bid and asked spread are higher.

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