He secured a 42% premium to FleetBoston's current share price (the mark-up is usually 20-30%), and this for a bank that has had to recover from a string of strategic mistakes: FleetBoston is now focusing on consumer finance after losing a packet in more exotic businesses, such as Latin American debt and dotcom venture capital.
When a product is manufactured in a high-cost country, shipped to China and subjected to a distributor mark-up, the end result is a very high landed price.