21.   Among those supporting the merger were U.S. Office Products Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ledecky and Corporate Express Chairman and CEO Jirka Rysavy.

22.   Analysts said more mergers are likely among oil drillers, and that expectation sent other stocks in the industry higher.

23.   Analysts said more mergers are likely among oil drillers.

24.   Analysts speculated that the merger was a defensive move for Ivax, which is trying to offset increased competition for its generic drugs in the U.S.

25.   Analysts have speculated the merger would be through an exchange of two Suez shares for one Lyonnaise share.

26.   Analysts and Intelsat executives agree that Intelsat is going private at a time that more mergers are likely in the near future.

27.   Analysts said PowerGen and National Power would probably would agree to sell power plants owned by Southern Electric and Midlands if the mergers are successful.

28.   Analysts said the merger was mostly a defensive measure and had little to do with a harmony of products or business.

29.   Analysts who follow Zurich Group complained that the merger was unnecessarily complicated, would produce relatively insignificant cost savings and had murky strategic objectives.

30.   And even if a merger were to succeed, it is not clear whether the U.S. market would still be protected from imports.