It’s a summer Friday – here are a few links for your enjoyment: 1) Gannett (GCI) recently transformed itself via spinoff (the parent company changed its name to TEGNA(TGNA)) into a print focused business. New CEO Robert Dickey is tasked with building a business in a market that is facing severe secular headwinds. So what is the plan?… Read More »
IDT (IDT) has a history of spinoffs, and in the middle of 2013, the company spun off a bunch of its intellectual property and spectrum assets into Straight Path Communications (STRP). Suffice it to say, expectations were low. The company had previously attempted to monetize these assets and failed. The business and assets were difficult to understand and… Read More »
After months of ‘will they or won’t they’ and having its stock whipsawed as a result of buyout rumors, Ntelos (NTLS) announced that it would be acquired by fellow Mid-Atlantic region focused operator Shenandoah Telecommunications (SHEN). Shentel, as it is known, is paying $640m for the company, much of it in the form of assumed debt. NTLS shareholders… Read More »
If the prevalence of spinoff related articles and discussions in the media wasn’t enough of a clue that spins are ‘hot’ right now, the latest news from S&P Dow Jones should serve as a clear sign of their increased popularity. The leading index company announced that they were launching three new indexes in order to meet the ‘evolving… Read More »
W.R. Grace & Co (GRA) filed an initial Form 10 for its upcoming construction products and packaging technologies segment. The new company will be called GCP Applied Technologies and the name refers to Grace Construction & Packaging. In fact, the press release notes that many customers still refer to the business today as ‘GCP’. Of course, the company couldn’t… Read More »
Our Australian readers might be interested in this one. Diversified mining company Independence Group (IGO.AX) recently agreed to acquire Sirius Resources (SIR.AX) for ~ $1.8B AUD. A bold bet given the environment for commodity companies and commodity prices, but Sirius did discover some low cost properties in Australia a few years ago. As part of the transaction, Sirius… Read More »
Poor Irene Rosenfeld. The former CEO of Kraft Foods was badgered by Nelson Peltz’s Trian Group into breaking up her empire in 2012 into the slow growing, North American grocery business, Kraft Foods Group, and the international snack food company Mondelez International (MDLZ). She remained at the top of Mondelez and also (rightfully) took a lot of heat for the… Read More »
Shortly after writing about Ventas’ (VTR) expanding hospital business (and skilled nursing facility spinoff), Community Health Systems (CYH), one of the largest hospital operators in the country, announced plans to spin off 38 of its hospitals along with its hospital management and consulting arm Quorum Health Resources LLC. The new company will take on the Quorum name, except the… Read More »
Yesterday morning we noted Shire’s (SHPG) unsolicited all-stock offer for recent Baxter (BAX) spinoff Baxalta (BXLT). The proposal offered to exchange any Baxalta shares for 0.1687 Shire ADRs, implying a value of $45.23 per Baxalta share. Of course, Shire promptly slumped over 5% so the effective price went down somewhat. The company responded later in the afternoon with a press release… Read More »
A new REIT is coming shortly to sate investor’s income needs. The board of directors at ‘diversified’ health care REIT operator Ventas (VTR) approved the spinoff of its acute care and skilled nursing facilities into a new REIT named Care Capital Properties. On August 17th, shareholders as of August 10th will receive one share of Care Capital for every 4… Read More »
A few short hits fora hot summer day – Scuttlebutt Investor recently revisited CDK Global (CDK) and offered his thoughts on the company’s recent performance and transformation plan. The company was just spun off from ADP (ADP) last October, but the dealer services company quickly attracted the interest of several different activists. They seem to have become very involved… Read More »
In a nod to ‘Throwback Thursday’, lets take a look at a recent spin that has been in the news recently. Last June, following a broader market trend, Time Warner (TWX) spun off its magazine business into Time Inc (TIME). After a year of independence the new company’s stock is mostly flat, which is not too shabby considering… Read More »
Exterran Holdings (EXH) was all set to go with the spinoff of its global fabrications and international services businesses. The names and tickers were all set – the new company would be called Exterran Corporation with the ticker ‘EXTN’ and the parent would rename itself Archrock and trade under ‘AROC’. It had a date of record (July 22nd),… Read More »
Despite ascending to the top role at Johnson Controls (JCI) less than two years ago, Alex Molinaroli has certainly made his mark on the historic auto supplier. He sold off both its electronics and workplace staffing businesses and also put its interiors business into a JV with China’s Yanfeng Automotive. Not satisfied, Mr. Molinaroli then announced the company… Read More »
United Technologies (UTX) had been considering its strategic options for its Sikorsky helicopter operations for quite some time. At first, it seemed the storied chopper company would end up flying solo via a spinoff due to tax reasons, but, as time went by, a sale seemed to be more and more likely. Eventually, the WSJ (and others) identified… Read More »