首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
If the bidding frenzy over Safeway were any indication, you’d think that big grocery stores had become luxury collectibles. Ever
If the bidding frenzy over Safeway were any indication, you’d think that big grocery stores had become luxury collectibles. Ever
admin
2010-07-19
34
问题
If the bidding frenzy over Safeway were any indication, you’d think that big grocery stores had become luxury collectibles. Every one of Britain’s top retailers--Tesco, Wal-Mart owned Asda, Morrisons and Sainsburys--are making a play for Safeway, which became a takeover target when sales started lagging at its 480 stores. But the real appeal of Safeway has little to do with the value of its stores: it’s about the land they sit on. There’s now so little property available for commercial development in Britain, or in Western Europe. that buying old stores is the fastest way to find space for new ones.
This explains why European retail is one of the few industries anywhere on the globe that have been generating a steady stream of dealmaking buzz. At a time when global mergers and acquisitions have fallen 81 percent from a 2000 peak of $ 3.4 trillion, the Safeway deal has been generating headlines since January. The bids. which started at £22.9 billion, are now under review by Britain’s Competition Commission, the national trustbuster. Its recommendation could decide the winner.
The commercial land shortage is largely a result of the campaign to prevent the Wal-Martification of Europe. In recent years authorities have imposed stiff limits on the growth of superstores, effectively blocking the opening of new ones in countries from Britain to France, Germany and the Netherlands. Safeway has become a particularly hot commodity in part because many of its stores have the combination of size and location that big-box retailers crave. "There are Safeway stores in this portfolio that will have directors of the other companies salivating," says David Southwel, spokesman for the British Retail Consortium trade group.
Gone are the days of the 70s and 80s, when lax zoning laws made it easy to build new stores in Britain, and towns generally welcomed the tax revenue and jobs. According to IGD, a food-and-grocery-industry drink tank, the number of superstores in Britain shot up front 403 in 1985 to 990 in 1995 but slowed the next year, after passage of new development rules. Designed to protect the economic vitality of town centers, the I996 rules require developers to demonstrate that a superstore is needed outside town, and there are no available alternatives in the center. "Most of the zoning legislation has got the retailers by the throat," says Haley Meyers, head of European retail research at London-based Mintel Research.
In the early 1990s Tesco foresaw the end of the building binge, and began snatching up land already approved for retail development. By "land banking" in this way. says Safeway spokesman Kevin Hawkins. big retailers could keep building through the 1990s and sidestep the red tape. But when land banks run dry. there is little choice but to buy other chains. Last October. Fretail giant Carrefour acquired a further 20 percent stake in Spain’s largest retailer, Centro Commerciale Carrefour, for I billion. "The food and general retail sector has recently seen a good degree more merger activity than other sectors," says Tim Atten, retail analyst at BNP Paribas. "it’s difficult for these players to expand in many countries in Western Europe without buying other stores."
It’s even more difficult on the Continent than in Britain. German law essentially prohibits stores larger than 1,200 square meters if local authorities object. French law requires strict reviews of stores larger than 300 square meters, and states that preserving the nation’s economy, lifestyle and culture must be weighed against any new project. "It’s virtually impossible to open a hypermarket in France," says Johanna Waterous, director at McRinsey Consuhing. "The planning laws in France make the ones in the U.K. look like the American Midwest."
The real megastore action is moving outside Western Europe. Tesco is now "placing emphasis on other parts of the world," says a spokesman. Carrefour is heading in the same direction: in 2002, it opened one hypermarket in France and four in Poland.
According to the passage, the author ______.
选项
A、is mad at Britain’s prevention of superstores.
B、is in favor of France’s restrictions on big stores.
C、is impartial and makes no tendentious statements.
D、has made some favorable comments on retailers.
答案
C
解析
态度题。本文开篇介绍大型零售商竞争收购Safeway的情况。之后分析原因,介绍前因后果,文章多处引述他人观点,但全篇未出现个人评论,可见作者对此事只是做客观描述,未进行任何倾向性的评论,故 [C]为答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/FrlO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
TheFederationofAmericanScientistsbelievesthatWhat’sHowell’sreactiontothestudy’srecommendations?
Theauthorofthepassageisprimarilyconcernedwith______.inthepassage,theauthorincludesallofthefollowingEXCEPT_
TheHistoryofAmericanIndiansWhenEuropeansdiscoveredtheWesternhemisphere,theydiscoveredaraceofpeople.【1】____
TheGreatWallofChinaWallsandwallbuildinghaveplayedaveryimportantroleinChineseculture.Thesepeople,fromthe
FromthepassageweknowthatNegroes______.Accordingtothepassagewhatisunknowntomanypeopleisthat
WhatisthecauseoftheproblemthatpeoplelivingonpartsofthesouthcoastofEnglandface?Theerosionofthewhitecliff
Itmightbesupposedthatgreaterefficiencyshouldbeachievedffseveralpeoplecollaboratetosolveaproblemthanifonlyon
A、MissChartwasoncedismissedbytheemployer.B、MissChartwasnotongoodtermswithherco-workers.C、MissChanoncequitte
随机试题
根据下列统计资料回答问题。 2019年A市专利密集型产业实现增加值6918.8亿元,比上年增长9.6%,分别高于战略性新兴产业、高技术产业增加值增速2.3个和1.7个百分点:专利密集型产业增加值占GDP的比重为19.5%,比上年提高0.4个百分点。201
A.隆隆样舒张期杂音B.机器声样杂音C.乐音样杂音D.叹气样杂音感染性心内膜炎
某企业从银行借入一笔1年期的短期借款,年利率为12%,按月复利计算,则关于该项借款利率的说法,正确的有()。
背景资料:某水闸建设工程项目,建设单位经公开招标后与施工单位签订了工程施工承包合同,施工承包合同规定,水闸的启闭机设备由建设单位采购,其他建筑材料由施工单位采购。同时,建设单位与监理单位签订了施工阶段监理合同。建设单位为了确保水闸施工质量,经与设计单位商
电化学保护可以分为阳极保护与阴极保护两种形式,()可采用阳极保护技术。
钢铁、汽车等重工业属于()类型的市场结构。
下列规范性文件中,属于部门规章的是()。
人民警察纪律,是指根据人民警察职业特点而制定的,要求人民警察在行使权力时必须遵守的义务性行为规范的总称。()
在我国的古代神话传说中,桑蚕业的始祖是()。
在重载一个运算符为成员函数时,其参数表中没有任何参数,这说明该运算符是
最新回复
(
0
)