Lets follow up on some recent articles – A few weeks ago we highlighted a writeup from Yet Another Value Blog advocating for Liberty Braves (BATRK). Part (well, a small part) of the author’s thesis was the unique nature of sports team assets and how their valuations are often underreported. Somewhat buried amidst the tragedy of Hurricane Harvey came… Read More »
In January, under pressure from Elliott Management, Marathon Petroleum(MPC) announced a formal review of the company’s strategic options for its Speedway business. At the time, it seemed that a spinoff was both Elliott’s goal and a likely outcome of the review process. After all, the industry has seen several petroleum companies spin off their convenience store divisions. Marathon… Read More »
A few links for today Bloomberg takes a look at how HP Inc (HPQ) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) are doing since their 2015 breakup and to the surprise of the afor today:uthor – and I would guess to absolutely no readers of this site – the ‘runt of the litter’ HP Inc is actually doing well. Newsflash:… Read More »
Over 18 months since announcing plans to merge, Dow Chemical(DOW) and E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.(DD) will complete their merger on August 31. The new company will be named DowDuPont and will trade under the new DWDP ticker. DowDuPont will be included in both the S&P 100 and S&P 500, as were both predecessor companies. Don’t… Read More »
Earlier this week, French oil giant Total (TOT) agreed to purchase AP Moller Maersk’s (AMKBY) oil business for $4.95b in equity. The Danish shipping giant will receive Total shares as compensation, but in addition to the shares, the French company will also assume $2.5b in debt and certain decommissioning costs in the North Sea. In an interesting wrinkle,… Read More »
NACCO Industries (NC) announced Monday that it has filed with the SEC regarding “a proposed spin-off… of its housewares-related business to NACCO shareholders.” Remaining in the company would be its mining business — I guess there just isn’t a market for coal-powered blenders. From the press release: Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Company, as an independent public company, will… Read More »
If at first you don’t succeed, pay off some debt and try again (a few years later). Sure, it doesn’t sound right, but it does seem to accurately describe the situation at AngloGold Ashanti (AU), the #3 gold producer in the world, which according to Reuters, is once again looking to spinoff its South African mining assets into… Read More »
Let’s kickoff the week with a few links: Yet Another Value Blog takes a look at the Liberty Braves Group (BATRA/BATRK) and sees some nice upside potential. Apparently, he also notes, so does Gabelli. It’s a good piece and among other things, includes a long section (which I tend to agree with) on why sports teams are undervalued. In… Read More »
It’s been a rough year for Akzo Nobel(AKZOY). First, Elliott Management got involved. The activist fund was pushing for a breakup of the Dutch chemicals company. However, when US rival PPG(PPG) showed up with an offer to buy the whole company, Elliott began pushing the offer over management’s resistance. AkzoNobel was successfully able to leverage Dutch protectionism to… Read More »
Following the lead of many of its peers, Wyndham Worldwide (WYN) announced that it would spin off its timeshare business into a standalone entity. The new timeshare company will become the largest timeshare company in the world (at least by revenues – $3.4b) and include both Wyndham Vacation Ownership and RCI, a timeshare exchange program. The hotel company generated… Read More »
Shire Pharmaceuticals (SHPG) announced last week that it will be “assessing strategic options” for its Neuroscience franchise. The move would allow the company to focus its efforts on its rare diseases division. From the company’s Q2 statement: With the acquisition and integration of Baxalta, Shire has solidified its leadership position in rare diseases with an unparalleled inline portfolio, innovative… Read More »
We don’t know much about the lithium space, but we know that if you want to understand it and get great analysis of the players involved, there is no better place than The Lithium Spot. So we asked them if they could share some thoughts with our readers about FMC Corporation’s plans to spin off its lithium business.… Read More »
After a long gestational period, MetLife (MET) finally completed the spinoff of its life insurance & annuity business, Brighthouse Financial (BHF) this week. MetLife shareholders as of July 19th should have received 1 share of BHF for every 11 MET shares owned. Brighthouse trades on the NASDAQ and was also added to the S&P 500 Index, replacing auto dealer… Read More »
Four months after its failed sale process, Time Warner(TWX) spinoff Time, Inc.(TIME) is pursuing the part of its strategy described as “selective portfolio rationalization”. Bloomberg reports that CEO Rich Battista stated in an interview that these “wonderful brands” need a new home so that Time can invest elsewhere. In the interview, Battista called the three publications “wonderful brands”… Read More »
Privately held Donuts Inc is acquiring Rightside Group (NAME) for $10.60 per share or approximately $213m in cash. With the deal signed, the company will now control top level domains such as ‘.sale’ and ‘.dance’ in addition to its portfolio of names like ‘.movie’ and ‘.group’. Personally, I am puzzled that a company named Donuts has nothing to do… Read More »