PITY the unfortunate chief executive of a publicly quoted company when he is asked to comment on speculation that he is in negotiations on an acquisition.

One man who found himself in that situation this week was Tom Mulcahy of AIB Group. His bank was named as the likely purchaser of Riggs National Corporation, a banking group in its chosen geographic segment of the US market.

AIB is in a no win situation whatever it does, he argues. If it is happening, the bank could not comment because of stock exchange rules. If it is not happening, he might feel like saying so. But then the next time it refused to comment on deal speculation, it would be taken that a deal was afoot. Seems public companies can't win.