Bank of America’s $21bn acquisition of ABN Amro’s US division has hit a potential stumbling block after two US senators requested assurances over potential job cuts and community involvement at the Chicago-based LaSalle.
Barack Obama, the presidential hopeful, and Senate whip Dick Durbin asked to meet Ken Lewis, BofA chief executive, to discuss a transaction that would eliminate the city’s last major bank headquarters and lead to at least 4,000 job losses.
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CDOBs Editors says:
Senators Obama and Durbin seem ready to meddle in the markets once again, defying free enterprise and hamstringing one of the most powerful drivers of the Midwestern Economic Engine.
Should our politicians really be able to "extract a range of concessions over jobs and community involvement" when companies are planning equity transactions? What limit is there to the "concessions" (read political favors) that our Senators can demand from private business?