While most U.S. corporations are continually on the prowl for ripe acquisition possibilities, merger fever is just beginning to infect Britain, which still abounds with inefficient, low-profit companies that duplicate products and services. Ironically, the Socialist government has been the primary booster of a trend toward bigger business, and in 1966 formed the Industrial Reorganization Corporation to promote and help finance regroupings in industry. As it happens, the chief beneficiaries of the government-sponsored merger wave are groups of experts who act as brokers for companies in search of a good buy.
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