Despite many investment bankers predicting the demise of hostile takeovers because it is difficult to pull off, the number of hostile takeovers are on the rise. For example, Glaxo recently gave Human Genome a deadline to accept their offer or face a hostile takeover. Genomma recently made an unsolicited offer to acquire Prestige at $16.60 a share and nominated a full slate of directors for election at Prestige’s annual shareholder meeting. Prestige’s board is not staggered, so Genomma has the chance to push out a majority of Prestige’s board, clearing the way for a takeover. Other recent hostile takeovers or attempts include Martin Marietta trying to takeover Vulcan Materials and Westlake Chemical trying to take over Georgia Gulf and Roche’s bid for Illumina.

In a rare example of a Chinese company engaging in a hostile takeover, Shanghai-based Cathy Fortune recently bypassed the board of cooper miner Discovery Metals Ltd. with an offer of 830 million Australian dollars. This was a 51 percent premium over the value of Sydney-based Discovery Metals’ common stock. China consumes about 40 percent of the world’s copper output but historically avoids hostile takeovers altogether.