31.   If the campaign fails, he says, the bank will at best be unable to make any big acquisitions.

32.   Indeed, he has given ambivalent signals about his interest in a big acquisition.

33.   It ends any hope that Atlanta, Georgia-based Southern had for expanding its British distribution business with one big acquisition.

34.   It also helps Whittaker shed debt incurred through two big acquisitions.

35.   It also ends any hope that Atlanta, Georgia-based Southern had for expanding its British distribution business with one big acquisition.

36.   It would also continue a string of big acquisitions for the company.

37.   Jungels sought to quash speculation Enterprise was poised to make a big acquisition, which cropped up in newspaper stories over the past weekend.

38.   Last year, the Midwest largely missed out on the wave of big banking acquisitions that swept other regions.

39.   Nor did he express any sense of relief at finally having made a big acquisition.

40.   Northrop Grumman is regarded as facing particular obstacles to being a predator rather than prey in the consolidation wave because its debt load makes a big acquisition difficult.