Westmoreland said the mine fits well with its existing mine mouth operations, and it anticipates the transaction will be cash flow positive immediately upon closing, which is expected to be by January 31.

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True, he explains, technologies that speed up the flow of information bring down transaction costs, which should induce companies to do less themselves and outsource more.

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The steady, predictable cash flow was there to support the giant debt levels from the transaction.

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The transaction will only turn out to be important if it is the priming of a financial pump that then gushes a flow of Chinese money into British roads, rail, hospitals and the other things that our indebted government is struggling to afford.

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