The Norwegian company outbid such industry heavyweights as TeliaSonera, France Télécom, Deutsche Telekom, Mobilkom Austria, Orascom Telecom and Tele2.

Its advantage remains price: Chinese companies are outbidding rivals in takeover battles as they have undercut competitors on price.

Unless Global Crossing's creditors extend the deadline, Hutchison and Singapore Technologies would forfeit the right to a breakup fee they were to receive if another company eventually outbid them.

The two companies outbid seven others in an auction in Islamabad.

The privately owned company outbid several other developers for the Bridgewater Commons site, buying it for $14 million.

The drop in the stock price has led many analysts to abandon their earlier forecasts that another company would outbid Georgia-Pacific.

RIM has also long been known as a potential bidder, but analysts seem to think the company will be outbid by the likes of Apple and Google early on.

When a new company outbid another hauler on a previously held contract, a payment was extorted from the new hauler for the right to take over the job.

But the company has long been eager to compete more intensively in American markets and ultimately outbid Sara Lee by as much as $200 million, according to executives close to the bidding.

If disaster strikes and the company is outbid by one of the many expected rivals for its lucrative London franchise - the largest in Britain - Reeves could provide a bolt-hole.