A few links to settle back in after the long Labor Day weekend:
- Spinoffs are all the rage and conglomerates are dropping like flies. While GE (GE) and others are currently slimming down, the WSJ notes that Honeywell (HON) is the rare outperforming conglomerate that is actually being cheered for its diversified position. Whether that remains the case once growth starts to slow remains to be seen, but if that happens, it won’t be a surprise when some activist starts knocking on the door calling for improved ‘focus’ and ‘shareholder choice’
- Catching up on some news from the summer, Symantec (SYMC) agreed to sell Veritas, its data storage & recovery unit, to a Carlyle backed group for $8b in cash. The deal, which will be one of the largest PE buyouts of the year, means that the planned spinoff will obviously no longer take place. In the end, Symantec will walk away from Veritas a loser after acquiring the business for ~$13.5b a decade ago. The company will now focus on its cybersecurity business which means Intel’s (INTC) McAfee unit better watch out…
Disclosure: Author holds no position in any stock mentioned.