The officials said that, so far, no official action had been taken against the bidding company.

"They are behaving like facilitators in helping Enron sell its equity," one executive of a bidding company said.

Still, the boards of both bidding companies must refer to some unemotional measure when they determine how much is too much.

But he characterized the bids for Fashionmall as somewhat "interesting" for a variety reasons, including a connection between the two bidding companies.

The bidding company then appeals directly to the shareholders of the targeted company, through a public offer to acquire their shares of stock.

Other bidding companies included Sega and Atari.

In December 1989 a second, Europe-wide bidding process was initiated, allowing the bidding companies more room for their own ideas.

An executive at one bidding company told Building magazine that the DIO was offering only "excuses for the mismanagement" of the contract process.

The bidding companies all sent reps to Washington to talk to the Treasury people--" "I remember that," I say.

But the decision has been delayed by the recent bankruptcy filing by Global Crossing, which was in the running for the deal, people close to the bidding companies said yesterday.

In 1996 the concession was extended to 28 years with the condicion that the bidding company built a highway between the Complejo Unión Nacional and Gualeguaychú.

Invite Media is a display advertising and exchange bidding company that was acquired by DoubleClick, a subsidiary of Google Inc. on June 3, 2010 for $81 million.

But to Mr. Webb, it hardly matters who the bidding companies are or even if the money would be used to pay off the construction bonds early, saving the taxpayers money.

To achieve national coverage, large numbers of domestic video recorders (which output at a nearby frequency) had to be retuned or fitted with a filter, at the bidding company's expense.

THE battle for the ownership of ITN, the TV news service, took a fresh turn yesterday when the bidding companies decided to extend the offer to November 18.

Beazer Investment the Largest In its announcement, Beazer described itself as the "largest owner" of the bidding company, known as BNS Inc.

Under an agreement among the bidders, Shearson's interest in BNS, the bidding company, would be converted into preferred stock in a new company that would own Koppers.

An executive of one jittery bidding company, who insisted on anonymity, estimated that it would cost $600 million or more to insure that MGM is a major player in the film business.

The point is that even though the Kmart business was no longer going to be profitable, according to Mr. Ebbers, the bidding companies had trouble forcing themselves to walk away from the action.

Under the proposal, a bidding company would have to prove that the merger would improve industrial efficiency, instead of having the Government, to prevent a merger, demonstrate that competition would be reduced.

LEAD: A report in Business Day on Monday about an offer to buy John Fairfax Ltd. of Australia misstated the ownership of the bidding company, Tryart Proprietary.

Under New Zealand law, once a bidding company receives more than 90 percent of its target, it has to obtain an independent valuation of the remaining shares before it can compulsorily acquire those shares.

One possible solution would be to use a system similar to the OKBs of the Soviet Union, where bidding companies whose designs were not chosen would be allowed to bid as subcontractors on the winning design.

Their experiences are far less glamorous than those of authors like Ms. Curott, who was able to sell her memoir on the strength of her background to a large publisher after a competitive auction with five bidding companies.

To retain as many as six bidders at the due diligence stage would be unwieldy and unappealing for many of the companies because of the expense involved, a senior executive from one of the bidding companies said.