A flurry of deals makes bankers salivate
FIRMS with interim bosses usually opt for the quiet life, but the lack of a permanent boss did not stop Hewlett-Packard (HP) from launching a bidding war on August 23rd. The computer giant offered to buy 3Par, a data-storage firm, for $1.5 billion, topping the $1.15 billion offered a week earlier by Dell, a longtime rival of HP. On August 19th Intel, a chipmaker, splashed out $7.68 billion to buy McAfee, an antivirus-software firm. Nor is the fun confined to high-tech. On August 17th PotashCorp, a firm that mines potash, from which fertiliser is made, received and promptly rejected a $38.6 billion offer from BHP Billiton, a mining giant. BHP is now pursuing a hostile bid.
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