By Suzanne McGee
Investment Dealers' Digest, March 13 '05
(excerpt)

"Virtually all of our clients are under some kind of pressure to act on the merger and acquisition front," says Michael Mankins, a managing partner at Marakon Associates, a consultancy. "They are under pressure from their shareholders to grow, and grow profitably – and they can't do that by cutting costs or reducing debt any further. Instead, they have to do something with the cash."

"It takes a very strong CEO to tell increasingly vocal shareholders that he isn't going to do a transaction that he doesn't believe will add value," says Mankins. "Maybe he decides he can't do a deal that makes sense in 2006; well, he then has to explain that to the board and to investors, which isn't going to be an easy task."