41.   Ahold said Monday that it would refrain from hostile takeovers but was considering deals in France, Britain, Italy and Spain.

42.   Allen called it a hostile takeover, but others close to the company tell another story.

43.   Bruce Harting, a savings and loan analyst at Lehman Brothers, said banking regulations would protect Independence from hostile takeovers for three years after its offering.

44.   Bureaucratic interference, corruption and crime, frequent changes in legislation, and a recent history of hostile takeovers have discouraged many US investors from entering Russia.

45.   But he studiously avoided any suggestion that hostile takeovers be restricted.

46.   But hostile takeovers are clearly back.

47.   But if SunTrust does lose the battle for Wachovia, its executives, like others who would mount hostile takeovers, may walk away with a lesson.

48.   But in the software industry, a hostile takeover poses huge risks.

49.   But Mellon spurned the offer, setting up the possibility that Bank of New York may take the highly unusual step of launching a hostile takeover for Mellon.

50.   But Shad saw less urgency in taking a firm stand on the problems of debt-financed hostile takeovers.