This deal is testimony to the determination of boards wanting to get a deal done.

Last week there seemed to be only one story dominating the financial press, this being the return to health – aka declaration of substantial profits – of the four main UK banks. This story ran and ran and was one of the few financial stories that crossed over to pretty much all of the mainstream newspapers.

Watching last night’s World Cup final, where the Dutch national team turned to a style of play against the Spanish that could definitely not be considered to be “total football”, set me wondering if this type of over-enthusiastic approach had been seen in the world of M&A deals between the two countries.