Mergers and the evolution of patterns of corporate ownership and control: the British experience.(book review)(Book Review)

Business History, April, 2004 by Cheffins, Brian R.

Throughout the twentieth century, the United Kingdom experienced a series of 'merger waves' which helped to foster what Leslie Hannah characterised in his 1976 book as 'The Rise of the Corporate Economy'.(1) Hannah, in this book and in other work he published in the 1970s, (2) examined corporate acquisitions in some detail and offered a series of important insights concerning their impact. Since that time, the historical treatments of British merger activity have tended to cover familiar ground rather than being innovative. (3) Now, however, is an opportune moment to revisit the topic of corporate mergers. This is because of an intense academic debate that has arisen recently concerning the crucial 'bedrock' that underpins a corporate governance regime where widely held...

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