foreign acquirer

Meanwhile, many other large deals are pending or recently completed in which American lawyers advised the foreign acquirer.

That appears to be insufficient incentive for foreign acquirers to put money into the United States.

The Dutch, followed by the Japanese and the British were the leading foreign acquirers.

The document estimates that Britain will be the largest foreign acquirer of American companies by the end of the year.

Mannesmann has itself been one of the most active foreign acquirers, buying control of large cellular telephone companies in Italy and Britain.

Others have pointed out that the market for trans-Atlantic deals has expanded because investors in the United States are now more receptive to foreign acquirers.

Besides handing an advantage to foreign acquirers not subject to such restraint, he said, such a measure would have adverse secondary effects that could not be anticipated.

Last, the multiples for advertising agencies overseas tend to be higher, so that an acquisition of an American agency does less harm to a foreign acquirer's price-earnings ratio.

Citigroup Inc. and two Spanish banks, Santander and BBV, are among the leading foreign acquirers.

Foreign acquirers generally have an edge in bidding contests because the weak dollar often increases their buying power and the accounting practices of their countries allow them to solve some problems that would deter American buyers.

Like other European companies, Hachette has been attracted to the United States by the weak dollar, which has made American deals cheaper for foreign acquirers, and the growth potential of the American market.

"In a hostile situation, the foreign acquirer cannot possibly know all information it should file with the Government and thus could be open to later charges that it had omitted material information from its filing," he commented.

"Virtually all the deals we've seen so far have been by foreign acquirers," said H. Rodgin Cohen, chairman of the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, which has been active in financial services deals.