21.  In such a stock-for-stock exchange, no capital gains taxes are due as long as the shares of the acquiring company are held.

22.  In turn, the acquiring company would buy the subsidiary with its own stock, a transaction that would not have tax consequences.

23.  It then merges with the acquiring company through a tax-free exchange of stock.

24.  Nevertheless, after some recent mergers have been announced, shares of both the acquiring companies and the acquired companies have risen.

25.  Much of its growth has come through acquiring small companies, cutting costs and incorporating their products into its overall mix.

26.  Nor can you tell the acquiring company not to go shopping.

27.  Pen a letter to the acquiring company detailing the problem.

28.  Putnam may be a rare franchise opportunity, but what would an acquiring company add to make the money manager a better business?

29.  Shareholders end up owning the unwanted part of the company taken over as well as a stake in the acquiring company.

30.  So the big question confronting shareholders of the acquiring companies is whether those savings are real.