Lots of time, effort and resources expended in vain. The...

Lots of time, effort and resources expended in vain. The acquisition, if it had gone ahead, might have been highly profitable. But the decision to walk away and not get into a bidding war with ASG (NRI) is arguably a positive one, reflecting a management for whom profitability is more important than the ego. Net D/E will remain at very modest levels as result, and hopefully they can focus on improving profitability in their core businesses (which appears to have weakened a bit in recent years) and/or making some smaller-scale, manageable acquisitions to drive growth.