Buyers regret picking up cheap assets

Investment bankers were hugely relieved to see a suddenly flurry of M&A deals in March – Sonera bid $6.5 billion for Telia, Imperial Tobacco offered $4.5 billion for Reemtsma and Bcom3 bought Publicis for $3.2 billion. At last, bankers said, confident chief executives were beginning to chase value in cheap corporate assets. But just as a few swallows do not a summer make nor do a few mergers indicate an M&A market heading back to the boom-time volumes of 2000.