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
36
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
WhichofthefollowingphilosophersevermentionedthetermSemanticsfirst?
DuringthereignofAugustus,changeshappenedinRomearmy,excluding______.AtthebeginningoftheImperialperiod,thefor
ElizabethwasfortunatetobeborninthelullflushofRenaissanceenthusiasmforeducation.Womenhadalwaysbeeneducatedof
Wecaninferfromthefirsttwoparagraphsthattheindustrialistsdisregardenvironmentalprotectionchieflybecause______.T
Cultureshockisapainfulexperiencewegothroughwhenweencountermanynewthingsinanothercountryandwe【1】______insom
Howiscommunicationactuallyachieved.’?Itdepends,ofcourse,eitheronacommonlanguageoronknownconventions,oratleas
1 Thereisanacceleratingtrendtowardgreaterrealisminmediacommunications.Thistrendcanbeattributedtotechnological
1 Duringtheadolescence,thedevelopmentofpoliticalideologybecomesapparentintheindividual;ideologyhereisdefinedas
行路难,但人生之路谁都要走。有的人在赶路,心急切切,步匆匆,眼中只有目标却忽略了风景。可路迢迢不知哪儿是终点。有的人如游客,不急不慌,走走停停,看花开花落,看云卷云舒,有时也在风中走,雨中行,心却像张开的网,放过焦躁苦恼。人生之路谁不走?只是走路别忽略了
A、Securityforces.B、Someofficials.C、Militants.D、Thefarmers.C
随机试题
A.卵鞘B.贝壳C.干燥内壳D.雄虫干燥体E.雌虫干燥体海螵蛸的药用部位是()。
三相半控桥式整流电路由三只晶闸管和()功率二极管组成。
借贷记账法下,生产成本的增加,应该在“生产成本”账户的借方登记。
职业病的病因为
A.全血B.洗涤红细胞C.血小板制剂D.血清蛋白E.浓缩白细胞多次输血的贫血病人输血时用
斯腾伯格把人的智力分为成分智力、()和经验智力三部分。
在中国美术史上,这是特殊的一页。在近十余年里,从现代艺术之父塞尚的作品开始,到西方当下的艺术形态,一百余年来,西方世界流行的所有艺术形式以及引发它们或它们引发的艺术思潮,几乎都在中国艺术舞台上粉墨登场——印象派、野兽派、抽象派、立体主义、未来主义
【《布列达宣言》】
设(X,Y)服从二维正态分布,其边缘分布为X~N(1,1),Y~N(2,4),X,Y的相关系数为ρXY=一0.5,且P(aX+bY≤1)=0.5,则().
Whojoinedthecompanyrecently?
最新回复
(
0
)