The market has some serious doubts about the proposed acquisition by Occidental Petroleum (OXY) of Anadarko (APC). These doubts are well founded. Larger acquisitions are often less successful than smaller acquisitions. Many times shareholders have been told that a large acquisition is successful only to find out years later the acquisition was never successfully integrated, leaving problems that festered until there was a crisis. Nonetheless, this management has a good track record that ought to allow investors to rest easy about the future.
Reserve Value Overpayment
In addition, the market believes