If you’re looking to close on an M&A deal, now might be the time to do it before the cost of capital starts to rise. Sure, “liftoff” might have been delayed by a month (or 12) but you have to do your due diligence and make sure there are enough synergies to make it worth everyone’s time and effort.
Critically, you’d hate to miss an opportunity to strike a potentially accretive deal while capital markets are still favorable, especially if you’ve recently found yourself in a compromising position vis-a-vis competitors.
We suppose the above helps to explain why, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, ISIS and al-Qaeda are contemplating a merger in the face of, how shall we say, “new entrants” in the race for Syrian market share.
Here’s more from RT [4]:
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday its intelligence had overheard Islamic State commanders talking to Al-Nusra Front about uniting forces against the Syrian Army.
And that’s just fine with Moscow because unlike Washington, Riyadh, and Doha, The Kremlin is an equal opportunity extremist eliminator. Here’s the latest on Russia’s airstrikes [5]:
In the course of the last 24 hours, aircraft of the Russian air group in the Syrian Arab Republic have performed 46 combat sorties engaging 83 terrorist facilities in the Hama, Idlib, Damascus, Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor provinces.
Near Aleppo, a facility of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist grouping with workshop for manufacturing of radio-controlled bombs as well as a depot with explosives were destroyed.
After a pinpoint strike with guided air bombs and further detonation of explosives, the facility and 2 trucks, which had delivered tens of tons of explosives, were destroyed.
Near Khan Shaykhun settlement located in the al-Ghab plain, a large field camp of the Jabhat al-Nusra grouping was detected by the air reconnaissance. An airstrike conducted by a Su-25 attack aircraft eliminated the terrorist object with all its facilities: accommodation and training areas of militants, as well as depots, automobile vehicles.
In the Idlib province, a command-surveillance centre of the ISIS militants located on the Seryatel mountain was uncovered by reconnaissance UAVs. It used to carry out the control over the illegal armed groups at the battlefield as well as fire adjustment for mortar crews of militants. A strike of a Su-24M bomber aircraft hit the target.
Yes, "it used to", but not anymore. Here are the visuals.
The question we have is this: will Washington (and the US media) still classify al-Nusra as "moderate" if they ally themselves with ISIS in the battle against the Russian "infidels?" And further, to the extent Riyadh and Doha (and perhaps Ankara) may be aiding al-Nusra, will that assistance continue in the event the group pulls off a militant merger with Islamic State?
Of course perhaps the most critical question of all is this: if al-Nusra and ISIS merge, how many people will be laid off after the deal?
And further, is the job market in Langley, Virginia robust enough to accommodate the new job seekers?
