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For sheer gall, few takeover artists have rivaled Saul P. Steinberg, 29, chairman of 71-year-old Leasco Data Processing. Last year his Manhattan computer-leasing firm gained control of Reliance Insurance, a large multi-line company, and squeezed a $100 million dividend out of its coffers to finance other Leasco operations. Last week Steinberg admitted at Leasco's annual meeting that his takeover appetite has grown so big that he would like to swallow Chemical Bank New York Trust Co., the nation's sixth largest commercial bank (assets: $9 billion). Chemical Chairman William S. Renchard has promised to fend off "aggressors" vigorously.
On Wall Street, merger battles often give a dizzy lift to stock prices long before actual mergers can create any fundamental economic values to underpin them. For example, shares of Scientific Data Systems, a Southern California maker of high-speed computers, leaped 17 points, to 120, in one day last week on news of a tentative merger agreement with Xerox. This sort of thing perturbs some economists, who fear that the speculative fever could end in scandal or stock bust. As far as Congress is concerned, that only provides another reason to clamp down on conglomerates and their fancy financing.