When Federal Mogul Holdings (FDML) first announced that it was separating its Motorparts division from the Powertrain business, the plan was for the spin to be completed in the first half of 2015. The problem was that the company was in the midst of an acquisition boom, acquiring three different businesses – TRW’s engine components, Affinia’s chassis business and… Read More »
A few short hits for the Friday before Memorial Day – A very minor footnote to the abandoned Comcast (CMCSA)/Time Warner Cable (TWC) megadeal is the cancellation of the GreatLand Connections spinoff. The spin would have shed millions of customers in select markets and was part of the two companies’ strategy to win regulatory approval. I think they… Read More »
DuPont (DD) unveiled the future board of directors at its performance chemicals spinoff, Chemour, earlier this week and poor Nelson Peltz didn’t make the cut here either. Surprisingly, the media isn’t covering this board situation in the same manner as last week’s ‘historic’ proxy battle, which witnessed DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman take down Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund at the ballot box. The… Read More »
By far, the world’s largest mining company, BHP Billiton(BHP) got a bit smaller this week with the spinoff(or demerger, if you prefer) of South32. South32 is a collection of non-core bauxite, alumina, aluminium, thermal and metallurgical coal, manganese, nickel, silver, lead and zinc assets accounting for under 5% of BHP’s 2014 profit. BHP shareholders received 1 share of… Read More »
Yesterday, Yahoo(YHOO) shares plunged on word that the IRS was examining treatment of asset-rich spinoffs. In a statement emailed to the Wall Street Journal, a Yahoo spokesperson stated that they expect no impact to the spinoff that is planned. In an emailed statement, a Yahoo spokeswoman said that because the company filed its request with the IRS earlier… Read More »
In the last minute or so of trading today, Yahoo (YHOO) dropped 7.5% on huge volume. At the same time Alibaba (BABA) spiked. Readers will recall that Yahoo is spinning off its stake in Alibaba together with its small business unit. The move is expected to save billions of dollars in taxes. Though scant information is available, Twitter… Read More »
During last week’s shareholder meeting, Lear (LEA) CEO Matt Simoncini said the company would not be pursuing a spinoff of its electrical business after determining that it would destroy value and eliminate synergies. The breakup idea first surfaced in early February when Mick Mcguire’s Marcato Capital sent a letter to the board urging the company to consider spinning… Read More »
The YUM Brands (YUM) spinoff story continues to develop and it feels like a spin is becoming more a matter of ‘when’ vs. ‘if’. Breakup speculation has been rife for quite some time, but the recent ‘catalyst’ of activist funds Corvex Capital and Third Point taking sizable stakes seems to have kicked the frenzy into a new gear. Apparently… Read More »
Like the famed bunny, the Energizer Holdings (ENR) spinoff just keeps on going more than a year after the initial announcement. These things do take awhile and it’s not like progress isn’t being made. For example, the company recently announced a $600m notes offering for the future household products company (mainly batteries) which will retain the Energizer name and… Read More »
The WSJ recently reported that ATM & cash register equipment maker NCR Corp (NCR) is considering ‘its strategic options’, including a possible spinoff or asset sale. NCR has a long and rich history, including making the first mechanical cash register, but the company’s stock price has been lagging as point of sale transactions and cash register use is… Read More »
The M&A market remains hot and the latest billion dollar deal is Verizon’s(VZ) proposed $4.4 billion takeover of AOL Inc. (AOL). The deal expands Verizon’s video and advertising ambitions while also providing AOL a larger platform to compete against the big boys in the space such as Google (GOOG). The WSJ has a nice piece laying out the possible… Read More »
We have written about British pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) a number of times over the past few years, but so far, none of the rumored spinoffs have ever come to fruition. It seems that will remain the case, as CEO Andrew Witty announced that the company would not be pursuing a spinoff of its HIV-centric Viiv. GSK owns over 80%… Read More »
Given its ubiquitous products and tremendous success, it isn’t surprising that everyone seems to have an opinion about Apple (AAPL). There are haters and fanboys and those in between, but all seem to get emotional when discussing the company’s products. Even the stock brings about heated conversations. One area of the company that has gotten a lot of… Read More »
Back in March, United Technologies (UTX) announced that it was exploring its strategic options for its Sikorsky aircraft business. Naturally, a tax free spinoff is one of the options currently under consideration and was the only one called out by name in the press release. The company is famous for its helicopters and is one of the largest ‘primes’ in… Read More »
All the way back in December 2012, pure play copper mining giant Freeport McMoran (FCX) decided to diversify its asset base by moving into the energy space. The company offered rich premiums to acquire both McMoran Exploration (which it had spun off back in the 90’s) and Plains Exploration & Productions in a widely panned move. It didn’t help that there were numerous ethical… Read More »