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TotalFina, the French-Belgian oil company, launched a hostile takeover bid for Elf Aquitaine, its French rival, in a move to continue the recent wave of consolidation in the oil industry.
If successful the all stock offer would create the world's fourth largest oil group after ExxonMobil of the US, the UK-Dutch group Shell and BP-Amoco-Arco, the result of two consecutive USUK combinations.
With...