When discussing spinoffs, analysts often toss in a comment about how the new slimmed and focused companies will be more attractive acquisition targets. After all, who doesn’t like the idea of a relatively quick exit with a nice premium? Sometimes they are right though and the most recent one to be acquired is Sara Lee spin DE Master… Read More »
Another day, another story about a large shareholder pushing for a breakup. The latest target is pork company Smithfield Foods (SFD) which received a letter from one of its larger shareholders, Continental Grains, urging the company to hire an outside adviser and to consider ‘strategic changes’ including the possible breakup into three separate companies. Continental argues that since… Read More »
A quick update on a recent spinoff. Leucadia (LUK) completed the spinoff of Crimson Wine Group (OTC:CWGL) a few weeks ago and the new company has jumped around a bit as an independent company. A lot of people were down on the company and many of the comments on our earlier articles pointed to the company’s poor recent earnings, expected… Read More »
Illinois Tool Works (ITW) has been going through quite the transformation over the past year or so after being egged on by activist investor Ralph Whitworth. The company sold a 51% stake in its decorative surfaces division last year and last week it announced that it was ‘exploring strategic alternatives’ for its industrial packing unit. This seems to fit… Read More »
M&A is back. Last week witnessed the return of some rather large deals including the $11b US Airways (LCC) takeover of AMR (AAMRQ), parent of American Airlines. The deal is expected to close later this year and you can click here for more details on the transaction. One of the many issues which remain to be sorted out… Read More »
13F season is always fun as it provides a rare (albeit delayed) glimpse into the thinking of large money managers and hedge funds. Of course, due to the significant time lag (~45 days), the exclusion of certain securities (shorts, derivatives etc.) and varying investment strategies and holding periods, the usefulness of such data is…questionable in many cases. Not… Read More »
Some more spinoff news from the current earnings season. Dean Foods (DF) reported disappointing Q4 numbers, but buried within the press release were plans for its ~86% stake in the WhiteWave Foods Company (WWAV). Dean plans on spinning off a chunk of those shares to shareholders in a tax free transaction after its lockup period expires, likely at… Read More »
Earnings season is always chock full of spinoff news. Valero (VLO) recently provided updates on its upcoming retail segment spinoff during its Q4 conference call and during a presentation at the Credit Suisse Energy Summit. PDF versions of the transcript & presentation can be found here. The new company, CST Brands, operates ~1,900 retail fuel and merchandise sites… Read More »
Leucadia (LUK) is one of those low key companies which has done a superb job for shareholders. The company has grown Book Value per share at an 18.5% CAGR and shareholder equity at over 19% since 1979. Not bad. No fancy homepage for this company, instead the spartan website offers up some links to the company’s SEC filings… Read More »
Seacor Holdings (CKH) announced that it had successfully completed the spinoff of Era Group (ERA) which began trading on the NYSE on Friday under the ticker ‘ERA’. Shareholders should have received 1 share of ERA for every share of Seacor owned. ERA was well received and closed up ~6% on the day. For a fuller writeup on the… Read More »
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 »