Pre-Reading Class

1. Warming-up discussion

a) What is reading?

b) How do you understand the term interactive reading?

c) What books have you read in English? Which of them did you like? Why? What about those books you didn’t like?

d) Make up a list of items that you read in English in your everyday life and indicate why you do each kind of reading.

What do you read in English?	What do you read it for?

2. Goal-setting and motivation

a) How is prose fiction different from the other types of texts (political news, academic writing, philosophical essay, diary, etc.)?

b) What are the main stimuli for reading a book?

c) What are you going to read your home-reading text for? Rate the following goals from 5 (the most important) to 1(the least important)

Goals	Rating	Comments
pleasure
to increase vocabulary
to pass the exam
to expand cultural knowledge
to improve reading skills in English

d) What requirements should an ideal book for home reading meet?

3. Introducing the author and the book: Stephen W. Frey. The Takeover, 1995.

Stephen W.Frey is a vice president of corporate finance at Westdeutche Landesbank in Manhattan and was previously in the mergers and acquisitions department of J.P.Morgan&Co. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Here are brief notes written for you by the first MGIMO student-readers of this book. Read them and say whether they have convinced you to read this book. Why?

Dear fellow students! You’ve come across one of the most interesting books in your curriculum. Intriguing and captivating from the first pages it literally takes you over and you have no choice other than to rush through it. Conspiracies, deaths and battles for power combined with romance, well-drawn characters and an invaluable insight into American corporate culture provide for a charming mix which is both pleasant to read and useful for business studies. The book is definitely worth your time.

Богдан Волостригов

The book impressed me greatly. It shows the severe reality of business life where a person simply doesn’t know who to rely on. Dear readers, be careful, one can easily get bogged down in so many names and exciting situations!

Наталья Беспутина

This book gives us an opportunity to learn a lot about mergers and acquisitions, takeovers, stock market, US Federal Reserve system and politics.

Мария Нелюбова

The book is worth reading because of an interesting plot,

colourful language and business content.

Альберт Арсланов

Start reading this book and I promise, you’ll rush through it in no time. You won’t regret sparing your time on it.

Андрей Шнайбель

An absolutely brilliant novel, 100% worth reading. The ideal book for home reading. True-to-life heroes, suspense and breath-taking situations. I could not tear myself away from this book.

Лейла Ахмедзянова

It’s both a breath-taking thriller and a useful book for those who study business. In this story of an honest man caught up in the criminal conspiracy business environment is depicted as a ruthless world where no one can be trusted.

Джабраил Базоркин

Congratulations on a splendid opportunity to read the book which will impress you and arouse your interest. I must confess it was the first time when I was always ready for my home-reading classes. Just open the first page and the book will absorb you.

Светлана Баранова

Real life of corporate America on every page, business intrigue, an interesting plot, a lot of valuable economic terms, lively characters make this book appealing to me. You’ll love it!

Кирилл Фильцанин

A brilliant book! You’ll find it quite useful for understanding contemporary economic and political problems. The plot is entertaining and captivating – you’ll find here love affairs, treasons, murders. You’ll also go though a detailed description of a takeover.

Юлия Лоторева

It’s a thriller based on true-to-life facts from Wall-Street life, extremely useful in terms of business English studies.

Федор Коротышев

Be aware of every new name and event. They are all essential to solve up the final puzzle. Мамед Дакалов

4. Introduction to Topic Vocabulary:

A. Reading the novel you’ll frequently come across the words given below. Commit them to memory and make sure you understand the processes denoted by them:

takeover:

1) an act of taking control of a company by buying most of its shares (поглощение); SYN: acquisition

2) an act of taking control of a country or organization by an army, group, esp. by force.

a hostile takeover: a takeover opposed by the company that is being bought (недружественное поглощение)

merger: the act of joining two or more organizations or businesses into one (слияние)

joint venture: a business project or activity that is begun by two or more companies, which remain separate organizations (совместное предприятие)

Listening.

You will hear Margareta Galfard, Director of Communication for Volvo in France, talking about why the merger between the major automotive companies, Renault and Volvo, failed. Listen and decide if the following statements are true.

1. The reasons why the merger failed are very simple to understand.

2. The shareholders were afraid that Volvo would lose its Swedish identity.

3. The shareholders feared that Renault was trying to take over their company.

4. The Swedish management were keen for the merger to go ahead.

Can you think of any other reasons why a merger might fail?

Have you ever read about a failed merger or corporate alliance and why did it fail?

B. What verbs do the following nouns derive from?

noun	verb
takeover
acquisition
merger

C. Read the following extracts from the financial press. In pairs, decide whether each one refers to a) a joint venture, b) a merger c) an acquisition

(1) Walt Disney Co., Hearst Corp. and Peterson Publishing Co. are discussing a deal that would combine their considerable influence in the publishing world to launch a weekly magazine to compete with ‘Sports Illustrated’ next year.

(2) General Motors is to start building its Chevrolet Blazer, a sports utility vehicle, in the factories of Elabuga Avtomobilny Zavod (ELAZ) in Tatarstan, an autonomous part of Russia. This business project will be owned by ELAZ and GM, which plans to invest as much as $250 m in the plant.

(3) Poland may call off talks on the sale of newsstand chain Ruch to France’s Hachette distribution service if it fails to make a firm financial offer soon.

(4) Bank Inicjatwyw Gospodanczych (BIG) and Gdanski are planning to work together on a new deal. They will form one new bigger and stronger bank and together they will control 4% of Polish banking assets.

(5) Just as Daewoo Electronics chairman Bae Soon-Hun thought he had agreed a deal to buy Thomson Multimedia, the consumer electronics arm of Thomson, he heard that it had refused his offer.

D. Translate into Russian:

1. The spokesman refused to disclose details of the takeover to the press.2. Investors reacted positively to the news of the takeover. 3. Profits fell sharply following the takeover. 4. Accusations of corruption against the government resulted in a military takeover. 5. The business is vulnerable to a hostile takeover. 6. Two hundred people lost their jobs as a direct consequence of a merger. 7. The proposed merger has been blocked by the government. 8. General Oil and PP have announced they are going to merge. It will be the biggest ever merger in the oil industry. 9. Blightly Telecom is to split into two, and demerge its fixed-line and mobile business as part of on-going restructuring. The aim of the demerger is to cut debt by £10 billion. 10. Ciments de France, the French building group, is to acquire Red Square Industries of the UK for 3.1 billion euros. This is a friendly takeover, as RSI are likely to welcome it. But the acquisition comes only a year after RSI rejected a hostile takeover.

E. Discussion Points:

1. Can you think of any recent business combinations?

2. What do takeovers usually result from?

3. What do takeovers usually result in?