The "at this scale" part of my message is quite important here
I am sure there are more, but these are some that I have heard of in Spain:
Endesa (Spanish largest electrical company) had a few offers of adquisition for various amounts, by Gas Natural, EON, valued in between 8 and 15 billion euros. Source (Spanish):
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opas_sobre_EndesaAnother one, some of the largest ones (up to 200billion):
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/sep/02/biggest-deals-vodafone-verizon-wirelessAnd if you take inflation into account, there probably are many many more older ones.
About this one, I do not see it surprising, it is only a matter of time between a project being very succesful and big companies getting interested and going for it. Who is going to make an offer you cannot refuse other than those megacorporations that have the money?
As long as there is competence, and the services they offer have alternatives, preventing monopolies, and driving the prices down without need for outside interference, that is generally good for the public, in theory though, in practice irl they make deals with each other anyway though, and laws have to regulate it (eg international phone prices in Europe)