Pfizer (PFE) generated a lot of buzz last year when it announced it was considering strategic options for several of its units. Its nutrition business has since been sold to Nestle for over $11b in cash and this week will bring about the IPO carve out of its animal health division, now known as Zoetis. The animal health… Read More »
We recently highlighted an increasingly tense standoff between Agrium (AGU) and its largest shareholder, activist hedge fund Jana Partners. The situation has evolved since then, but in short, Jana is pushing for the company to spin off its retail unit into an independent company in order to unlock significant shareholder value. The company has resisted the move and Jana is… Read More »
Woke up this morning to see that Furiex Pharmaceuticals (FURX) was up close to 50% (!) in pre-market trading. The company confirmed that its commercial partner, Takeda Pharmaceutical, had received FDA approval for three Type 2 Diabetes therapies. Several of these had already been approved in Japan with Furiex receiving royalties. In addition to unlocking a $25m milestone… Read More »
In late November, the board of directors at Siemens (SI) approved a plan calling for a shareholder vote on a potential spinoff of its lighting unit, Osram, at the upcoming Annual Meeting in January. Well…January is here and shareholders overwhelmingly approved the measure at yesterday’s meeting, with ~98% of the votes cast agreeing to the move. Shareholders of… Read More »
Twice a year, Barron’s gathers some of the top minds in the industry for a roundtable discussion on the worldwide investment environment and economic outlook. This year’s panel included the same regulars as usual, financial titans all, PIMCO’s Bill Gross, uber-bull Abby Joseph Cohen, GAMCO Investor’s (GBL) Mario Gabelli and Felix Zulauf. In addition to pontificating on the… Read More »
After failing to secure a buyer for the unit, CBS Corporation (CBS) announced that it had some new plans for its outdoor segments. The company plans on converting its Americas Outdoor unit into a REIT while the Asian & European Outdoor piece will be divested and treated as a discontinued operation. The Outdoor segment, which is focused on… Read More »
Genie Energy(GNE) is a company that we have followed from the announcement of its spinoff from IDT(IDT). Last year, the company promoted an interesting exchange offer to allow holders to elect to trade their equity for high-coupon preferred stock with less upside from business performance. The offer was met with little interest. Undeterred, the company relaunched the exchange… Read More »
We try to cover every spinoff, but sometimes we just don’t get to them or they fall through the cracks. In the case of SEACOR Holdings'(CKH) upcoming spinoff of Era Group(ERA), we missed it until recently, but caught it prior to its upcoming ex dividend and distribution dates. Era Group crept up on us because it was originally… Read More »
Amidst our exhaustive coverage of the Abbott (ABT)/AbbVie (ABBV) separation, there has been no consensus as to which company is the ‘better’ one to own. Some people like AbbVie’s higher dividend yield while others prefer Abbott’s growth prospects. Ahhh what is an uninformed investor to do? Luckily, the self-appointed people’s champion stockpicker, CNBC’s Jim Cramer, has weighed in… Read More »
Set a million monkeys loose with Yahoo Finance and a word processor, and what do you get? The answer, it would appear, is Seeking Alpha, a content farm with no particular editorial standards. We wrote last week about blatant, significant errors being covered up without acknowledgement. This morning, we encountered another wastebasket-worthy piece on AbbVie(ABBV). Imagine writing about… Read More »
With the high profile Abbott/Abbvie separation completed, it’s time to look forward to the next ‘big’ spin. It’s not always so easy to predict which name that will be, but one thing I do know for certain is that the upcoming News Corporation (NWSA) spinoff of its publishing assets will certainly be getting a lot of press. In… Read More »
John Malone does it again. In the first day of trading after its spinoff of Liberty Media(LMCA,LMCB,LMCAD,LMCBD), Starz(STRZA,STRZB) jumped 9.79% to close at $15.59. Despite a $1.1 billion debt burden, the Starz and Encore premium movie channels are thought to be a coveted prize for a larger media company. Starz is also investing heavily in original content such… Read More »
Friday, after the market closed, Liberty Media Corporation(LMCAD,LMCBD,LMCAV,LMCBV,LMCA,LMCB) announced that it had completed its spinoff from Starz(STRZA, STRZB), formerly the Liberty Media Corporation. For a cogent explanation of the alphabet soup, see our article from last week. As part of the transaction, Starz drew down its credit line and distributed $1.8 billion in cash to Liberty Prior to… Read More »
AbbVie(ABBV) is a behemoth of a company following its spinoff from Abbott Laboratories(ABT), but it is a one-legged giant. The chorus of concern around the companies prospects has centered on its extreme dependence on a single drug, Humira, which accounts for 50% of revenues and 70% of profits. There has been speculation that the firm would use its… Read More »
Whenever a corporate executive has to publicly state that they will not be spinning something off, it’s generally only a matter of time. This is likely the case with GlaxoSmithKline(GSK) and its majority-owned Viiv Healthcare unit. Viiv, of which Glaxo owns 76.5%, recently filed for approval for its anti-HIV drug, dolutegravir. If the drug is approved, it is… Read More »