Updates on General Growth and Howard Hughes

The GGP drama is finally nearing its end and time is running out to jump aboard the Howard Hughes Corporation prior to its spinoff from General Growth Properties (GGP). With GGP’s emergence from bankruptcy around the corner, the company announced November 1st as the date for distribution of shares of the two separate publicly traded corporations. According to… Read More »

EBay’s Reserve Not Met- PayPal Staying Put

Image via CrunchBase Ever since eBay (EBAY) unloaded its stake in Skype last year, there has been fierce speculation that they would do the same with PayPal, the popular online transaction company. Here is a piece in the New York Times from earlier this year making the case that a spinoff is needed in order for PayPal to… Read More »

The Mysterious Allure Of Howard Hughes

Image via Wikipedia Amidst the turmoil of 2009, my alma mater hosted a small gathering for its alumni working on Wall Street. Typically, these events involve a fair amount of drinking, active networking, soliciting of donations and the inevitable token ‘brief’ remarks from someone in the industry. That evening’s guest of honor was none other than Bill Ackman,… Read More »

Sunoco Plans Farewell For SunCoke

Image via Wikipedia In my last post I took a look at the ‘rumor mill’, but sometimes you just don’t seem them coming (even if they make sense). In mid-June this year, Sunoco Inc (SUN) announced its plans to spin-off SunCoke Energy in the first half of 2011.  Sunoco is principally a petroleum refiner and marketer and chemicals… Read More »

Drumming Up The Rumor Mill – Spinoffs That Might Be

It’s the dog days of August and sports fans are in a frenzy. Has Tiger rebounded? Not this year. Exciting pennant races? Nope. What really has fans hopping and going wild is the start of NFL training camps. Really? Meaningless training camps? Yup and that fact is symbolic of the NFL’s power and outright dominance over the US… Read More »

LRAD To Spin Off Parametric Sound, The Company Nobody Wanted

Image via Wikipedia LRAD Corporation (LRAD) recently announced its intention to spinoff most of its HSS Technology (HyperSonic Sound) related business into a new company called the Parametric Sound Corporation. The transaction is expected to be completed within the next three to four months. Post-spinoff, LRAD will continue making its Long Range Acoustic Device (for which the company… Read More »

HBS Paper Analyzes Whether Analysts Add Value

Image via Wikipedia A little while ago, we highlighted some interesting academic research looking at the returns of spinoff stocks. Recently, another study looking at the space was published, albeit from a slightly different angle, by Harvard Business School doctoral graduate Emilie Rose Feldman and professors Stuart C. Gilson and Belén Villalonga. The authors attempt to answer one of the… Read More »

Sun Healthcare Looks To Find Value In Its Real Estate

Sun Healthcare Group Inc. (SUNH) recently announced their intention to split the company into two – a real estate operating company (Sabra Health Care REIT) and a nursing care/healthcare services company (Sun Healthcare Group). The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year and the company plans to raise additional capital through an… Read More »

Checking In On Questar

Image via Wikipedia One potential hurdle for Questar’s (STR) proposed spinoff was cleared earlier this week as the company’s Board of Directors approved the transaction. The new company, QEP Resources, Inc is expected to trade on the NYSE under the symbol “QEP” and will be comprised of the natural gas and oil exploration and production (E&P) and midstream field services businesses.… Read More »

Can McDermott(MDR) Spinoff Babcock & Wilcox Generate Power For Your Portfolio?

Image via Wikipedia By the time United Technologies(UTX) offered to purchase Babcock & Wilcox for $42 per share in March 1977, the company’s storied history already extended over a century.  Founded to manufacture and sell the water tube boiler invented by Stephen Wilcox, the company’s products powered the first New York City Subway, Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet and the… Read More »

Questar(STR) May Spin Off Exploration And Production Business

Image via Wikipedia Questar(STR) announced on April 21 that it is considering separating its unregulated exploration and production (E&P) business from its regulated utility business,  creating two independent companies. According to that press release, Questar currently consists of six businesses: Questar Exploration and Production Company, a diversified natural gas and oil-exploration and production company; Questar Gas Management, a… Read More »