Earlier this year Novartis (NVS) CEO Joe Jimenez said the company was considering a sale or a spinoff of Alcon, its surgical equipment and eye care business. The company paid a hefty penny (actually ~$50b worth of pennies) to acquire the business back in 2010, but as with a lot of M&A, things haven’t gone as planned. Many… Read More »
Lets close off the week with some happenings in the world of spinoffs: 1) Spinoffs Are Popular On The Johannesburg Exchange Every so often, a reader writes in to the site to let us know that our international coverage is weak (some use nicer language…others less nice). To which we reply thanks for reading and that volunteers are… Read More »
In this edition, we provide a few updates to some of our recent articles focusing on activist activities: 1) Sachem Head vs. Shire Pharmaceuticals (SHPG) Shire Pharmaceuticals announced this summer that it was considering its ‘strategic options’, including a potential spinoff, for its neuroscience division in order to better focus on its rare diseases business. Unfortunately, the company’s stock has… Read More »
The automotive space is undergoing a tremendous amount of change and the forecast calls for more turbulence. I mean, Google’s Waymo is advertising! It’s been interesting to watch the different approaches taken by the OEMs though. For example, GM (GM) has been very active in both electrification (despite the hype differential its Bolt outsells Tesla’s Model 3) and… Read More »
Tidjane Thiam’s tenure at the top of Credit Suisse (CS) has hardly been a picnic. Big lawsuits, struggling business units and a difficult overhaul has left the stock well below where he inherited it despite strong gains this year. The company is only two years into its grand ‘3 year plan’ which entails cutting costs, reducing the size… Read More »
Way back in 2013, Pfizer (PFE) CEO Ian Read plotted a future course that could have included a spinoff several years down the line. Since then there have been constant rumors and speculations about possible breakups and portfolio changes, but those were ultimately rejected. Last week though, the company shifted gears by formally announcing that it is considering its… Read More »
Delphi Automotive (DLPH) announced it was spinning off its powertrain segment back in May in order to better highlight its burgeoning electronics business. Now the two ‘new’ companies have names and oh boy, they’re ‘good’ ones. Lets start with the electronics business will be called Aptiv and will trade under the ticker ‘APTV’. No, no one is being… Read More »
British energy giant BP (BP) recently announced that it plans on carving out its pipeline assets into a separately traded vehicle via IPO layer this year. The new company, BP Midstream Partners, will be structured as a Master Limited Partnership (MLP) and is expected to trade under the ticker ‘BPMP’. Here is what the new company will own:… Read More »
Autoliv(ALV) is the world’s largest manufacturer of seat belts and air bags. Now, the Swedish company wants to spin off its fast-growing Electronics business. The Electronics business focuses on Active Safety as opposed to Autoliv’s core Passive Safety business. Autoliv stock jumped over 12% on the announcement, as investors anticipated strong value creation in the Electronics division with… Read More »
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 »