1.   The increase in efficiency promised by the apostles of reengineering and the apologists for the great merger wave remains invisible.

2.   An important factor in this merger wave is the popularity of Internet stocks, which have risen to extraordinarily high prices.

3.   Analyst Gheit believes the merger wave among the independents could cut the number of larger independents in half.

4.   But the merger wave has been so important to the economy and the deadlines are so tight that we had little choice.

5.   Compared with the merger wave of a decade ago, acquisitions today are driven by a much greater concern for business efficiencies and market opportunities.

6.   For regulators and lawmakers, the merger wave has confronted them with an unexpectedly rapid challenge to how the banking game is played.

7.   If the merger wave now unfolding across the globe goes too far, who will be the spoilers?

8.   If sold to a high bidder, the company would benefit from the current merger wave in financial services.

9.   In the United States, investors can expect consolidation in the financial sector to lead the merger wave.

10.   Indeed, Rite Aid and Thrift Drug are not the only chains caught up in the merger wave.