Canadian company COM DEV International(CDV.TO) announced that Honeywell(HON) will purchase the company for C$455 million ($345 million USD). Concurrent with the purchase, COM DEV will spin off its stake in exactEarth to shareholders. exactEarth will become an independent, publicly traded company. (i) Honeywell will acquire the equipment business of COM DEV by way of an acquisition of all of… Read More »
Computer Sciences Corporation(CSC) announced that its Board had approved the spinoff and subsequent merger of CSRA, as well as a $10.50 special dividend. After the market close on Friday, November 27(which is the day after Thanksgiving and will be at 1PM), CSC shareholders as of November 18 will receive one share of CSRA for each share of CSC held.… Read More »
Just two days after setting the date for its Associated Capital Group(AC) spinoff, GAMCO Investors(GBL) has pushed it back eleven days in order to “to coincide with month-end.” One wonders what went on behind the scenes that caused the Board(and by Board, we mean Mario Gabelli) to reconsider so quickly. Presumably, the Board was previously aware that November… Read More »
On Wednesday, Exterran Holdings completed its spinoff of Exterran Corporation(EXTN) and changed its name to Archrock, Inc.(AROC). Not to be confused with a defunct seafood restaurant, or a small brewery, or perhaps the next new comic book villain, Archrock “is the leading provider of natural gas contract compression services to customers throughout the United States and a leading… Read More »
One does not need a particular gift for forecasting the future to know that magazines are in the midst of an inexorable decline. No doubt, there is still some profit left to be made, but it will be less and less each year. Joe Ripp certainly knows this. As CEO of Time, Inc.(TIME), his job is to transform… Read More »
The question of whether to exchange their GE(GE) stock to receive Synchrony Financial(SYF) at a 7% discount is a question weighing heavily on the minds of many GE shareholders. One investor decided to Ask Matt what to do. Who is Matt? Apparently, Matt is “USA TODAY markets reporter Matt Krantz [who] answers a different reader question every weekday.”… Read More »
It may be the world’s premier luxury brand. Ferrari(RACE) manufactured just 7,255 cars last year, part of its strategy to keep supply below the level of demand. The recent IPO of 10% of Ferrari’s shares by Fiat Chrysler(FCAU) followed the same model, making available only a small number of shares. Barron’s notes that the company’s valuation is unjustified.… Read More »
Mario Gabelli has often made money off of spinoffs. Now he’s executing one. Gabelli, the CEO and controlling shareholder of GAMCO Investors(GBL), will be spinning off the company’s alternative investment management business and some assorted assets as Associated Capital Group. At 11:59PM on November 19, GAMCO shareholders as of November 12 will receive one Associated Capital Group Class… Read More »
Defense contractor Northrop Grumman (NOC) is feeling pretty good right now after having just won a massive contract for the new long range bomber. The company is also in the process of restructuring its organization by cutting its operating groups from 4 to 3, one of which will be called Technology Services. The move led to suspicion that… Read More »
While Yahoo(YHOO) still persists in its hope that its spinoff of Aabaco Holdings and its Alibaba(BABA) stake will be tax free, one analyst believes that investors have not been properly evaluating the worst case. Bob Peck of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey believes that taxes may be as high as 65% of the Alibaba stake’s value. Why does he believe that?… Read More »
As is often the case, this week’s spinoffs have implications for market indexes. First, Hewlett-Packard(HPQ) will be replaced by BlackRock(BLK) in the S&P 100. Hewlett-Packard will be changing its name to HP and spinning off Hewlett Packard Enterprise(HPE). Hewlett Packard Enterprise joined its former parent in the S&P 500 after the close of trading on Friday, October 30.… Read More »
It would be unfair and inaccurate to blame all of Hewlett Packard’s(HPQ) problems on Carly Fiorina. After all, her successor as chairwoman, Patty Dunn resigned after presiding over illegal spying on Board members and journalists. Mark Hurd, CEO at that time, later resigned amidst allegations of improper payments to a contractor with whom he had a personal relationship.… Read More »
It looks a bidding war has emerged for Starwood Hotels (HOT), with three Chinese players and Hyatt Hotels (H) all chasing the well respected hospitality brand. Kudos to those i-bankers for drumming up the interest, especially given the fact that the Chinese government rarely lets its corporate citizens get into bidding wars. While M&A is always exciting to… Read More »
A few small hits for a tough New York Thursday (at least for us Mets fans): Era Group (ERA), the helicopter focused spinoff from Seacor (CKH), got hit hard this week on news that Petrobras (PBR) was dropping its helicopter transport services. With falling oil prices and the company under intense scrutiny amidst a seemingly ever growing corruption scandal,… Read More »
For most Americans months away from their 80th birthday, life has long since settled into a post-retirement routine. For Carl Icahn, who will turn 80 in February, he’s just getting started, going after larger targets than ever. Last week, Icahn announced he was forming a Super PAC with $150 million of his own money to promote legislation to… Read More »