My column in the FT this week is about cross-border mergers and whether they are really more risky than other kinds. It starts like this:

Tuesday was not a propitious day to be announcing grand plans for a cross-border merger.

That morning, Alcatel-Lucent ejected Serge Tchuruk and Pat Russo, its chairman and chief executive, over its own unhappy merger. Meanwhile, Robert Dudley was trying to run TNK-BP, the disputed joint venture between BP and some Russian oil tycoons, from a safe haven.

Neither was an advertisement for the benefits of link-ups with foreign companies. The lesson appeared to be that chief executives of failed mergers at best lose their jobs and at worst have to flee the country.

Yet Willie Walsh of British Airways and Fernando Corte of Iberia chose this moment to say they wanted to join forces, following the example of Air France-KLM and Lufthansa, which acquired Swissair in 2005.

Were they mad?

You can read the rest here and leave comments below.