Speculation began almost immediately after Dan Loeb’s Third Point impressively raised $2.5b in just two weeks this summer. Who would the new targets be? Existing investments? Foreign companies? One new mark was just identified in the fund’s most recent quarterly letter as Amgen (AMGN), the $100b+ market cap biotech giant. The letter, which is worth a read in its entirety, suggests that… Read More »
At the beginning of the year, QEP Resources (QEP) unveiled a few strategic initiatives including the sale of its non-core assets and the spinoff of its midstream business, Entrada Midstream. The plan was concocted amidst activist pressure (Jana Partners recently exited QEP though) and the idea was to increase the company’s focus on its upstream business and deliver better… Read More »
The Babcock & Wilcox Company’s (BWC) board of directors are currently huddled around a spreadsheet filled room trying to figure out if separating its government & nuclear operations from its power generation business makes sense. At least that is how I imagine their ‘evaluation’ process although the reality probably includes a whole bunch of advisors doing most of… Read More »
Last week, we wrote about the nosedive in Civeo (CVEO) shares following lousy guidance and the announcement that the company would redomicile in Canada as a C corp instead of pursuing REIT status. Although the logic seemed reasonable, the decision was somewhat surprising as the REIT conversion seemed to be viewed as a big value driver by large, activist shareholders such… Read More »
Earlier this year, Kimball International (KBALB) unveiled plans to break up the oddly paired family business by separating its contract electronic manufacturing business, Kimball Electronics, from its furniture business. Well, with board of director approval, the spinoff is now official. The transaction is set for the end of the month (October 31st) and both Class A & B shareholders will… Read More »
Last month, Compuware(CPWR) agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo. As part of the deal, Compuware committed to divest all shares of Covisint(COVS) that it retained after conducting an IPO within 60 days. Well within its window, Compuware announced on Friday that it would be distributing the shares at the end of the month. Compuware… Read More »
California, the great state known for its warm weather and environmentally friendly laws is about to get its own dedicated oil and gas business. Yes, you read that correctly. On December 1st, the California Resources Company (CRC) will begin trading on the NYSE as an independent entity after Occidental Petroleum’s (OXY) board of directors formally approved its spinoff last week. OXY… Read More »
Only a few scant months ago, Civeo (CVEO) was born, spun out of Oil States International (OIS) after activist pressure from Jana Partners and David Einhorn. The plan was for the workforce accommodations firm to convert to a REIT, as we described in this May post: Looking ahead, Civeo is studying the possible conversion to REIT status however,… Read More »
Panicked Automatic Data Processing (ADP) shareholders need not worry about their stock appearing on many ‘Top Losers’ lists yesterday. Yes, the company declined a lot, but that was due to yesterday being the first day of trading following the spinoff of its dealer services business CDK Global (CDK). ADP shareholders should have received one share of CDK for every… Read More »
We first discussed the idea that Ebay(EBAY) might spin off PayPal nearly four years ago, on October 28, 2010. More recently, the company and CEO John Donahoe repeatedly resisted withering attacks from legendary activist investor Carl Icahn, who began pushing for the spinoff early this year. Today, the company has reversed course, and announced that it will spin… Read More »
Automatic Data Processing (ADP) is poised to complete the spinoff of its dealer services business, CDK Global, on September 30th with ADP shareholders receiving 1 share of CDK for every 3 shares of ADP owned. ADP is currently an S&P 500 index constituent and will remain so following the distribution. CDK Global, which will trade under the ticker ‘CDK’,… Read More »
B/E Aerospace (BEAV) appears to be making significant progress on the upcoming spinoff of its consumables management segment, KLX inc. The company recently filed an initial Form 10 and while I haven’t had a chance to read through the entire document, it seems like the ‘Energy Technical Services’ segment is going to be a bigger focus for the… Read More »
While catching up on some older items in my news feed, I came across a couple of pieces from Tsachy Mishal’s Capital Observer blog about 2013 Leucadia (LUK) spinoff Crimson Wine Group (CWGL). Mr. Mishal is a bullish Crimson shareholder and actually attended the company’s Annual Meeting in Napa. Boy, it must feel great to expense that trip… Read More »
ADP (ADP) will spin off its dealer services business, CDK Global, on September 30th to shareholders as of September 24th. The new company will trade on the NASDAQ under the ticker ‘CDK’ and ADP shareholders will receive 1 share of ‘CDK’ for every 3 ADP shares owned. The dealer services business is ‘the largest global provider…of integrated information technology… Read More »
The Financial Times reports that Anglo American(AAUKY) has significant assets it would like to divest, CEO Mark Cutifani feels the company can do better by selling off assets piecemeal than by following in the path of BHP Billiton(BHP) and spinning them off to shareholders. But Mr Cutifani said the “portfolio work” at Anglo would entail a number of… Read More »