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Greenmail

Common practice in the United States in the merger-mad 1980s. Somebody buys a larger chunk of share in a company and threatens to make hostile bid for the company. To buy him off the company buys back the shares at a much higher price than the greenmailer paid for them. So disgusted were ordinary Americans with this practice that they passed legislation which imposed an onerous tax on any profit made from greenmail.

Page last modified on Friday November 29, 2013 12:33:40 GMT-0000