Last week at its annual awards for the PR industry, PR Week chose the takeover defence by Liffe, the London futures market, as its financial campaign of the year.
By all accounts, it was a brilliant campaign by Liffe's Sir Brian Williamson, who held off the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Börse to go with Euronext, which coughed up a handsome £550m. Williamson managed to persuade potential bidders to pay £18 a share in cash â compared to a share price of 500p only months before.
