Do takeover defenses lead to higher bids?

The Financial Times has an interesting take on the battle for ABN Amro. It sees the pre-sale of LaSalle to Bank of America for $21 billion as a defense against alternative bidders. That and some "stalling tactics" raises the issue of whether it will work against the deal with Barclays and encourage more bids. Some examples: PeopleSoft enacted a poison pill to beat back Oracle, but that only led to an offer 59 percent higher than the original. To thwart Mittal Steel last year, Arcelor handed key assets to an autonomous Dutch trust and a proposed reverse takeover. Ultimately, Mittal's final winning offer was 44 percent higher than its original. Not sure if this means that Barclays must go higher.  

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- here's the commentary