Bayer trades 32% below its break-up value, only 21 times Julius Baer's estimate of 2001 earnings.

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Simon Taylor of Salomon Smith Barney estimates that all three companies are trading at a 20-25% discount to their break-up value.

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Selling assets makes a lot of sense for a company which now has a break-up value much higher than its market capitalisation.

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Mr Duthie has calculated that the break-up value of BolsWessanen is the equivalent of at least 40 guilders a share 20% higher than its price in recent weeks.

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Again the idea was to break up Brierley to extract value from its vast under-performing assets.

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But will this break-up indeed create value?

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The company has received a lot of attention for its calls to break up the company and increase shareholder value.

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To unlock your true value you need to break yourself up.

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And that they think that they might just about break even on doing just that as a result of the copper value of the wire they dig up.

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