Just a few days before officially notching a victory at Timken (TKR), Relational Investors unveiled its latest target: The Manitowoc Company (MTW). The activist firm announced that it had acquired over 8.5% of the historic manufacturer of ice machines and crane equipment and urged the company to consider a spinoff of its foodservice business. The company operates under two business segments, foodservice and… Read More »
REITs have been extremely popular investments over the past few years as investors desperately thirst for yield. Not surprisingly, the space has attracted the interest of some ‘non traditional’ companies including data storage titan Iron Mountain (IRM), whose board of directors just approved REIT conversion plans following a favorable IRS ruling. Some other ‘non traditional’ companies, such as billboard… Read More »
The end of June is shaping up to be another busy period in the spinoff world. That means S&P has also been very busy rejiggering its indexes in order to accommodate the new companies. Here is a roundup of the recent activity: 1) Rayonier (RYN) completed the spinoff of its advanced materials company, Rayonier Advanced Materials, on Friday.… Read More »
You may not know Masco (MAS) but they’re in your bathroom, they’re in your kitchen, they’re even in and on your walls. With brands such as Delta faucets, Behr paints, KraftMaid cabinets, and one of the largest installers of insulation products, Masco grossed $8.2 billion in revenue in last year, down from a 2006 peak of $12.7 billion.… Read More »
‘Resistance is futile’ – The Borg Star Trek fans will no doubt recognize the famed motto of those nasty, robotic, intergalactic conquerors hell-bent on assimilation. What they won’t know is that the phrase is also rumored to be frequently muttered at company board meetings after Ralph Whitworth’s Relational Investors announces a stake. The activist firm has been quite a… Read More »
Companies constantly change their plans and just because a spinoff gets announced doesn’t mean it actually gets done. It’s (unfortunately) quite common for plans to get scrapped or altered in some way and sometimes the unit to be spun off is just sold instead. While we try our best to stay on top of the news, some names get… Read More »
Merger Mondays are back. The latest mega deal announced is Medtronic’s (MDT) ~$42.9b takeover of device maker Covidien (COV). The deal price represents a ~30% premium and includes $35.19 of cash and 0.956 Medtronic shares. While Medtronic’s management is out touting the numerous cost savings and synergies gained through the deal, the main motivation behind the deal appears to… Read More »
CBS (CBS) finally released details on its plan to ‘split off’ its remaining 81% stake in CBS Outdoors (CBSO). After successfully raising ~$2b selling 19% of the outdoor advertising company in an IPO a few months ago, the company is offering a voluntary exchange offer to dispose of its remaining shares. CBS Class B shareholders will be able… Read More »
We didn’t really cover this saga, but last year Hess Corporation (HES) was embroiled in a heated proxy battle with Paul Singer’s Elliott Management. The fund argued (and put together a nice presentation) that the company was poorly managed, had lousy governance (too many cronies on the board) and was undervalued on a sum of the parts basis.… Read More »
We are big fans of Jana Partners here. Although the fund describes its investment approach as ‘value plus catalyst’, it’s not afraid to get vocal and create its own catalyst. Just ask Agrium’s (AGU) management team. While that situation didn’t achieve the desired result, the firm has notched numerous activist victories including the spinoffs (or possible spins) at… Read More »
Last month, we wrote about speculation that B/E Aerospace(BEAV) might result in the spinoff of assets. Today, the company announced that it will indeed split into two independent companies, one focused on Manufacturing, and one on Services. The company expects the spin off to occur in the first quarter of 2015. The co-CEO’s statement in support of the… Read More »
Following up on last week’s slew of index changes, another spin off resulted in another index change yesterday. The Ensign Group(ENSG) completed its spin off of CareTrust REIT(CTREV) after yesterday’s close. Subsequent to the spin, CareTrust joined its former parent in the S&P SmallCap 600, pushing out struggling insurer Tower Group International(TWGP). Given that both stocks are in… Read More »
Last week featured a full line up of spinoffs with Simon Property Group (SPG) spinning off the Washington Prime Group (WPG) on Wednesday, May 28, and National Oilwell Varco (NOV) and Oil States International (OIS) spinning off NOW Inc (DNOW) and Civeo (CVEO) respectively on Friday, May 30. The new companies are all significant enough to force a reshuffle of… Read More »
National Oilwell Varco (NOV) completed the spinoff of its distribution company, NOW Inc (DNOW) last week. The new company trades under the ticker ‘DNOW’ and NOV shareholders should have received 1 share of the new company for every 4 NOV shares owned. The spin was completed after the close at the end of May, but today will mark… Read More »
As planned, Oil States International (OIS) completed its spinoff of accommodations unit Civeo (CVEO) after the close of business on Friday, May 30, 2014. OIS shareholders received two shares of Civeo for each share they owned. As is often the case, each company issued its own, slightly different press release this morning marking the completion of the transaction.… Read More »