Back to the smoke-filled rooms

EUROPE'S tycoons have rarely had much time for shareholders. But three of Europe's most important insurers want it known that France's biggest-ever takeover battle is being decided in the interests of investors, not for the benefit of well-connected financiers doing battle in smoke-filled rooms. Believe that at your peril. The struggle for control of Assurances Générales de France (AGF), which was tentatively settled on December 17th, has everything to do with personal ambitions and animosities and very little to do with modern capitalism.