Although the executing force behind restructuring is planned and sober management strategies, in Europe the real "driver" is the bargains that the weakening dollar has created since 1985. Europeans, primarily Britons, are beginning to see the fulfillment of their lifelong dream of securing a permanent and equity-based foothold in the U.S. market.
Hanson Trust, the London-based conglomerate, created an empire in the United States by taking over run-of-the-mill companies, selling oft" the most unprofitable divisions, and using the cash to buy other companies. As Lord Hanson put it, "We're fond of many of our businesses, but we're not in love with them." In the summer of 1987, Hanson beat U.S. experts in a $1.7 billion deal for KiddIe. 1
EMI added a link to its global chain with the purchase of Rent-A-Car. 2 NatWest bid $820 million for the First Jersey National Corporation, to take advantage of "the gradual relaxation of American interstate banking laws and to realize its strategy of creating a 'super-regional' bank in the north-eastern u.S." 3
Britain's whiz kids, Charles and Maurice Saatchi, built the world's biggest ad agency by gobbling up Ted Bates for $450 million. By 1986 the Saatchi brothers' empire had billings of $7.5 billion and pretax profits of some $103 million. 4
In continental Europe, Bertelsmann spent $330 million to acquire RCA's music business, with which it already had a joint venture. Then the company bought the lackluster Doubleday for $475 million. 5
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