Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Deals behind closed doors.
For years now I have told workmates that they will never get the full story and that a lot of things are done behind closed doors. I believe that competition in the passenger transport market is just a show to mislead the public into thinking that it is a free market with operators competing against each other. I think that a lot of deals are done under the table and there are a lot of gentleman's agreements in place. The public face is one of competition but in reality I think that the top managers of each firm are in it together.
And what is on the Daily Telegraph website today ? No surprises for me here then!...
FirstGroup has made a provocative nil-premium approach to rival National Express, based on the premise that it has a superior management team more capable of sorting out its target's troubled East Coast rail franchise. NatEx said that on June 19 it had received "a highly preliminary approach... on unspecified terms", noting that FirstGroup had put no price on the table. It was via a letter from FirstGroup chairman Martin Gilbert, posted to the house of his counterpart John Devaney, who has only recently joined NatEx. Despite the rejection, FirstGroup said it "continues to believe there is significant industrial and commercial logic in a combination of the two companies". It stressed that there could be no certainty of any offer.
...Yeah right! A letter from one chairman posted to the private house of the chairman of a rival company! Seems like a Gentleman's Club to me and not competing companies operating in a free market.
For years now I have told workmates that they will never get the full story and that a lot of things are done behind closed doors. I believe that competition in the passenger transport market is just a show to mislead the public into thinking that it is a free market with operators competing against each other. I think that a lot of deals are done under the table and there are a lot of gentleman's agreements in place. The public face is one of competition but in reality I think that the top managers of each firm are in it together.
And what is on the Daily Telegraph website today ? No surprises for me here then!...
FirstGroup has made a provocative nil-premium approach to rival National Express, based on the premise that it has a superior management team more capable of sorting out its target's troubled East Coast rail franchise. NatEx said that on June 19 it had received "a highly preliminary approach... on unspecified terms", noting that FirstGroup had put no price on the table. It was via a letter from FirstGroup chairman Martin Gilbert, posted to the house of his counterpart John Devaney, who has only recently joined NatEx. Despite the rejection, FirstGroup said it "continues to believe there is significant industrial and commercial logic in a combination of the two companies". It stressed that there could be no certainty of any offer.
...Yeah right! A letter from one chairman posted to the private house of the chairman of a rival company! Seems like a Gentleman's Club to me and not competing companies operating in a free market.
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