Let’s kick off the week with another edition of the always eclectic Spinoff Odds and Ends: 1) Thyssenkrupp Update We provided an update on thyssenkrupp’s (TKAMY) new ‘strategic direction’ last week. The JV with Tata Steel is out and the elevator business spinoff was scrapped for an IPO instead. Just a few days later though, the story seems… Read More »
Despite a history and reputation for outperformance, not every spinoff turns into a winner. I know, shocking, right? In this week’s edition of Odds & Ends we look at a few situations where shareholders have not been rewarded for holding on: FTD Companies (FTD), the flower delivery company, recently warned that it was hovering on life support. The… Read More »
Update on M&A Canyon Capital offered $12/share to acquire student loan processor Navient (NAVI), but the student loan servicing company’s management forcefully and publicly rejected the proposal. Basically, management felt the offer undervalued the company and want a bid more in the $14-15 range. Canyon was apparently surprised by the hostile tone since the offer represented a significant premium… Read More »
Let’s kick off the week with some deal talk. Last week we touched on Apollo’s (APO) potential buyout of Arconic (ARNC) and if completed, it would just be another example of spinoff/parent company being taken out. Once the separation announcement is made or even the ‘strategic alternatives’ one, the market knows that a sale is possible. In that vein,… Read More »
TEGNA’s (TGNA) Board of Directors officially approved the spinoff of Cars.com and expects the transaction to be completed on May 31st. TEGNA shareholders as of May 18th should receive 1 share of the new company for every 3 TGNA shares owned. Cars.com is expected to trade on the NYSE under the ticker ‘CARS’, which I think we can… Read More »
Somehow, we never got around to talking about one of the worst names for a spinoff that we can recall. Of course, we are talking about tronc(TRNC). Tribune Media(TRCO) spun it off as Tribune Publishing, but, after Michael Ferro took over, it changed its name to tronc, which sounds like the name of a reptilian villain that… Read More »
It’s hump day. Here are some links to help you get through it: Marketfolly published some notes on a panel titled ‘The Future of Shareholder Activism’ at the Reuters Live Newsmaker Event. The panel featured some currently ‘active’ managers including ValueAct’s Jeffrey Ubben, Mantle Ridge’s Paul Hilal, Blackrock’s Zach Oleksiuk and Cadwalader’s Richard Brand (lawyer). Mr. Ubben has been… Read More »
Gannett (GCI) strikes again and it has another print spinoff in its crosshairs. After scooping up the Journal Media Group back in October, the company, which spun off its digital properties into TEGNA (TGNA), is now going after Tribune Publishing (TPUB), the 2014 print spinoff from Tribune Media. That is a lot of spinoff on spinoff M&A. Gannett’s all-cash… Read More »
Tribune Publishing (TPUB), a 2014 spinoff from Tribune Media, received a large cash infusion of over $44m from Chicago entrepreneur Michael Ferro last week week in exchange for 5.2m shares. Mr. Ferro will become TPUB’s largest shareholder with ~16.6% of the shares and will join the company’s Board of Directors, replacing Eddy Hartenstein as Executive Chairman. Interestingly, Mr. Ferro… Read More »
That was fast. A few months after outlining an M&A focused growth strategy, Gannett (GCI) is actually ‘walking the walk’ with the announced $280m buyout of the Journal Media Group (JMG). The offer of $12 in cash per share represented a sizable premium of over 40% to the previous close. Readers of this site should be familiar with both… Read More »
It’s a summer Friday – here are a few links for your enjoyment: 1) Gannett (GCI) recently transformed itself via spinoff (the parent company changed its name to TEGNA(TGNA)) into a print focused business. New CEO Robert Dickey is tasked with building a business in a market that is facing severe secular headwinds. So what is the plan?… Read More »
What a week for spinoffs. Truly historic. Beginning on Monday with TEGNA (TGNA)/Gannett (GCI), the ‘Summer of Spin’ crescendoed yesterday with the completion of six more spins: DuPont (DD) spun off its performance chemicals unit (including Teflon) into Chemours (CC). The new company told investors it plans on paying out a stable dividend, which is somewhat unusual for such… Read More »
The ‘Summer of Spin’ rolls on and yesterday witnessed the completion of three more spin offs: Masco (MAS) separated its installations and services into TopBuild (BLD) TriMas (TRS) spun off its former Cequent units as Horizon Global (HZN) Babcock & Wilcox (BWC) changed its name to BWX Technologies (BWXT) and spun off its power generation unit as Babcock &… Read More »
The ‘Summer Of Spin’ kicked off yesterday with Gannett transforming itself into the bizarrely titled TEGNA (TGNA). The ‘New Gannett’ (GCI), containing the publishing assets, was spun off to shareholders who should have received 1 share of new Gannett for every 2 shares of the old Gannett owned. Prior to the spin, the companies revealed separate buyback and dividend plans… Read More »
Calling all spinoff lovers – it’s time to get your hard hats on because the end of this month is going to be crazy. Just call it the ‘Summer of Spin’. In the somewhat improbable five plus years we have been running this site (and I am willing to bet over the course of history), there has never… Read More »