We (and many others) had been puzzled by the strange strength in Orchard Supply Hardware(OSH) equity following its bankruptcy filing earlier this week. The bubble burst today when the company issued an announcement warning that equity was expected to be a complete loss. Orchard’s management has noticed high trading volume in Orchard’s Class A Common Stock and Series… Read More »
In the lead up to the separation of News Corp’s(NWSA) publishing arm from its global media business, the two pieces began trading today on a when-issued basis. The parent, global media company, which will be renamed 21st Century Fox and trade under the FOXA and FOX tickers began trading today as FOXAV. The publishing spinoff will take the… Read More »
In June, 2012, Barron’s wrote a favorable article about the prospects of Time Warner(TWX). A year later, with the stock up 63%, Barron’s revisits, and though it continues to like the company’s prospects, it concludes that the stock has gotten ahead of itself. Barron’s does believe that the upcoming spin off of Time Warner’s magazine publishing division will… Read More »
No, Beyonce isn’t pregnant, but there is a new Knowles, well…a Knowles Corporation coming next year following Dover Corporation’s (DOV) announced spin off of its communications technologies business. The new company is ‘expected to be an industry leader’ in acoustic components (ex. MEMs microphones, speakers, receivers and transducers) and communication infrastructure components. According to a company presentation (the one dated May 23rd), on… Read More »
As we have written about previously, Pfizer(PFE), after conducting an IPO of 20% of Zoetis(ZTS) in January, has launched an exchange offer whereby shareholders may elect to exchange their Pfizer shares for Zoetis shares. The offer is expected to be completed this week, and, as a result, the S&P has decided that it is time for Zoetis to… Read More »
A few more milestones have been crossed on News Corp’s (NWSA) path to spinning off its publishing business. This past week, the company received shareholder approval in order to change its certificate of incorporation. The move was necessary in order to facilitate the spinoff of its publishing business, commonly referred to as the new News Corp. A few weeks prior to… Read More »
Eighteen months after it was spun off from Sears Holdings(SHLD), Orchard Supply Hardware(OSH) announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and had reached an agreement for Lowe’s Companies (LOW) to acquire most of its assets. We had been bullish on Orchard at the time of the spin. We were wrong. In its press release the company… Read More »
The saga of Siemens’ (SI) spinoff of Osram, which we first wrote about on March 18, 2011, and which recently survived a strange shareholder lawsuit, is drawing to a close. In a pair of presentations by Peter Löscher, President and CEO and by Joe Kaeser, CFO, the company included a July 8 date for the spinoff on a… Read More »
We often mention how long the spinoff process can take. There are a lot of reasons for that including paperwork, but basically it isn’t easy to carve out a brand new entity. There is a lot of internal work and planning that needs to get done during that period to ensure a smooth transition. Nothing sexy and the… Read More »
Delays could be on the horizon for CBS’ (CBS) upcoming North & South American outdoor advertising spinoff. The IRS has apparently formed an ‘internal working group’ to study its current standards of what type of companies can qualify for REIT status. The news came out late last week when both Lamar Advertising (LAMR) and data storage company Equinix Inc… Read More »
Last May, we wrote about a strategic review at Dole Food Co(DOLE) that we thought might lead to a spinoff. We haven’t followed up until now and there’s been lots of activity, none of it involving a spinoff, culminating in an offer this morning by Chairman and CEO David H. Murdock to purchase the 60% of the company… Read More »
Barron’s had a couple of pieces on spinoffs a couple of weeks ago, one of which focused on Leucadia’s (LUK) recent spinoff of the Crimson Wine Group (CWGL), its small winery business. For a ‘refresher’ on the transaction, check out our earlier coverage here and here. The company is listed on the OTC Pink Sheets and currently trading at… Read More »
Updated 06/04/13 16:43 That didn’t take too long to decide. During its latest conference call, Pfizer (PFE) indicated it was still mulling its options for how to deal with its remaining ~80% stake in Zoetis (ZTS), its former animal-health business whose IPO was earlier this year. The company had been considering a spinoff, but in the end it… Read More »
Ceasars Entertainment (CZR) is certainly getting creative in order to deal with its massive debt pile. As this piece notes, the company has already refinanced some debt, pushed back maturities and even attempted to redefine its leverage ratios. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been enough ‘relief’, so the company’s announced a new plan to issue subscription rights to shareholders. The rights would… Read More »