A Tender Offer

About the Book

The scene shifts between Paris and Springdale, a small Ohio mill town where AmCos, the manufacturer of the after-shave lotion Macho is located. Harrison "Hal" Hammond, the ambitious CEO of AmCos, has decided to acquire Saint-Rémy, the upscale French producer of the world-renowned perfume Chaumont. Egged on by his scheming French wife and ignoring the cautionary advice of his American colleagues, Hammond plunges ahead with his French project. "Doing deals in Paris is no different than in Peoria" is his belief.

Saint-Rémy is run by a wily French bourgeois, Hubert Montigny, who is determined to prevent his prize possession, which has been in his family's possession for three generations, from falling into foreign hands. He will marshal all possible defenses—legal, financial and political—against an American takeover. As Montigny says, "I am not fanatically anti-American; I am fanatically pro-French." Based on the author's thirty years of experience in the Paris office of a leading New York law firm, the book gives an insider's perspective on the maneuvers and details of the transatlantic battle for control of Saint-Rémy.

The contrasting attitudes and lifestyles of Paris and Springlawn enliven the narrative. Harrison's French wife struggles to win acceptance in Springlawn's provincial community; Montigny has recalcitrant family members to contend with in addition to his American nemesis; French and American bankers and lawyers play their adversarial roles and do battle for their respective clients; the French government becomes involved and the fierce takeover battle builds to a surprising climax.

About the Author

Herbert M. Lobl was born in Vienna, Austria. He was educated at Harvard College, the University of Bonn in Germany on a Fulbright grant and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. After serving as assistant counsel to Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York, he became a partner in the New York law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell and, until his retirement, served in the firm’s Paris Office for nearly thirty years. He has taught at Columbia Law School and is the author of two previous novels. He now lives with his wife in Westchester County.