takeover now more likely than ever, page-33

26 days to go to find out.

Possibly longer - Gottliebsen's comment is a good one. The financial complexity that everyone is complaining about protects them to an extent.

If someone pulls the plug and they carve it up - the shopping center management asset - worth half a billion - will be gone.

The banks also have to be willing to absorb an immediate loss of 3 Bn of unsecured debt in the current market - with an associated hit to their shareprice.

What are those Chinese finger trap thingies you play with as a kid......