YUM! Brands (YUM) has been getting a lot of attention recently and it seems lots of people have ideas on how the company can deliver more shareholder value. Earlier this year, Janney analyst Mark Kalikowsky argued for setting Taco Bell free in a bid to unlock value, given Taco Bell’s purely North American exposure. It hasn’t just been the sell side… Read More »
Countering published reports that Symantec(SYMC) was shopping its Veritas unit for sale despite a previous announcement of a spinoff, CEO Michael Brown said in an interview that he is moving ahead with the spin. It is thought that the tax implications of a sale make it an unattractive option for shareholders. “That’s the plan, to spin it,” Chief… Read More »
Last year, Gannett (GCI) finally decided to follow the pack and spin off its publishing assets into a standalone company. Given its storied history, the publishing group will retain both the Gannett name and GCI ticker, so the corporate braintrust had the opportunity to pick an exciting original name for its new digital and broadcasting business. Most people… Read More »
Less than 3 years after being spun off from then Kraft Foods (now the ill-named Mondelez [MDLZ]), Kraft Foods Group (KRFT) has agreed to a merger with Heinz. Heinz was taken private in 2013 by Brazilian private equity firm 3G capital, with backing from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway(BRKA,BRKB). Berkshire Hathaway and 3G will be injecting an additional $10 billion… Read More »
While we are on the topic of Sandell Asset Management, it’s worth noting that firm suffered a setback earlier this month in one of its other major holdings, Bob Evans Farms (BOBE). The restaurant and refrigerated foods company dropped almost 20% after reporting a disappointing quarter and slashing rest of the year guidance due to weakness in its… Read More »
After disappointing guidance for this past quarter, Brookdale Senior Living (BKD) is under public assault from event driven firm Sandell Asset Management. Brookdale is one of the largest senior housing and care providers in the United States. Not to fear though, Mr. Sandell, head of the firm, has ideas and sent an open letter to the company suggesting: 1) the… Read More »
Last week, Starwood Hotels(HOT) announced it would be spinning off its timeshare business. One week later, CEO Frits van Paasschen “resigned by mutual agreement with the Board of Directors as President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director.” The company has appointed director Adam Aron as interim CEO and has stated that they wanted to see more growth than… Read More »
While releasing strong Q4 results, Starwood Hotels (HOT) also announced plans to spinoff its timeshare business, Starwood Vacation Ownership. The timeshare unit reported revenues of $640m in 2014, representing a little over 10% of the overall company’s total. According to the press release, the company ‘has successfully sold more than $6 billion of vacation ownership intervals to over… Read More »
Harris’ (HRS) announced acquisition of smaller defense player Exelis (XLS) last week means that another spinoff has been scooped up and taken off the market, this time just a few years after achieving independence. Exelis is a unique example though as it was spun out of ITT (ITT) as part of a mega-spinoff that saw the creation of not… Read More »
For nearly four million customers in seven states NiSource (NI) is a utility providing gas and electricity. At the same time, the company operates a large non-regulated gas pipeline, storage and midstream business. In September, the company announced plans to spin off this business as the Columbia Pipeline Group. The company expects that the spinoff will be completed… Read More »
Alliance Techsystems (ATK) is set to complete its merger with Orbital Sciences (ORB) today and just prior to the combination, the company will spinoff its outdoor sports segment, Vista Outdoors, in a tax free transaction. The new company will trade on the NYSE under the ticker ‘VSTO’ and ATK shareholders will receive 2 share of VSTO for every… Read More »
Last November, Occidental Petroleum (OXY) spun off its California oil & gas holdings into a standalone company, the California Resources Corporation (CRC). Lets just say the new entity faced a lot of headwinds, but one thing few predicted was the coming plunge in oil prices. As a result, CRC has had a rough go of it on its own… Read More »
During a pair of special meetings, shareholders at both Alliance Techsystems (ATK) and Orbital Sciences (ORB) overwhelmingly approved their proposed merger. Nearly 100% of votes cast were in favor and hey, why should a rocket explosion spoil a good deal? Orbital shareholders will receive 0.449 shares of ATK common stock for each ORB share owned, effectively giving Orbital shareholders… Read More »
After months of sustained pressure, Yahoo (YHOO) finally unveiled plans to spinoff its stake in Alibaba (BABA) last week during its earnings call. A spinoff was chosen for its tax efficiency and in order to accomplish that goal, the company said that a small operating unit would need to be included as part of the transaction. At the time,… Read More »
Less than seven years after turning itself into a more diversified conglomerate with the purchase of Enodis, Manitowoc (MTW) reversed course and announced that it would separate its foodservice business from its crane equipment unit. The move comes after severe pressure from several activist investors, beginning with Relational Investors last summer and more recently from Carl Icahn who seemed… Read More »