Grab your cup of coffee and kick off the week with some Odds and Ends: Late last year, Pfizer (PFE) announced it was considering its ‘options’ for its consumer health division. The early buzz was all about a sale though and the maker of Advil and Centrum has since been running a sales process with a rumored desired… 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 »
Those hoping for the IRS to provide clear guidance on spinoff related tax issues can keep holding their breath because it’s not coming anytime soon, at least according to Robert Wellen, associate chief counsel of the U.S. tax agency. According to Mr. Wellen, these types of projects take a lot of time to complete, but on the plus… Read More »
Amidst this great Summer Of Spin, what are the best prospects? According to Forbes’ Antoine Gara, who has also noted the flurry of spinoffs: PayPal and Baxalta(BXLT). About PayPal: PayPal is a leader in online payments, with high margins and strong revenue growth. It could prove valuable to tech giants like Google, Apple, Microsoftand Facebook, who are all toying… Read More »
We have written about British pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) a number of times over the past few years, but so far, none of the rumored spinoffs have ever come to fruition. It seems that will remain the case, as CEO Andrew Witty announced that the company would not be pursuing a spinoff of its HIV-centric Viiv. GSK owns over 80%… 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 »
“The wind goes toward the south, and turns about to the north; it turns about continually in its spin, and the wind returns again to its spin.”(Ecclesiastes 1:6) Some companies are such inveterate spinners, that one could get dizzy watching their machinations. In 2000, after 14 years of ownership, Ralston Purina spun off Energizer Holdings(ENR). Ralston Purina would… Read More »
The WSJ publishes a weekly column titled ‘Boss Talk’ where it picks the brain of CEOs and other top brass from big companies. A few weeks ago the paper spoke with Mike Petters, CEO of Huntington Ingalls (HII), a spinoff from Northrop Grumman (NOC). This week the paper sat down with Juan Ramon Alaix, CEO of Zoetis (ZTS),… Read More »
As we have written about previously, Pfizer(PFE), after conducting an IPO of 20% of Zoetis(ZTS) in January, has launched an exchange offer whereby shareholders may elect to exchange their Pfizer shares for Zoetis shares. The offer is expected to be completed this week, and, as a result, the S&P has decided that it is time for Zoetis to… Read More »
Updated 06/04/13 16:43 That didn’t take too long to decide. During its latest conference call, Pfizer (PFE) indicated it was still mulling its options for how to deal with its remaining ~80% stake in Zoetis (ZTS), its former animal-health business whose IPO was earlier this year. The company had been considering a spinoff, but in the end it… Read More »
Spinoff talk has surrounded Pfizer (PFE) for some time now following a business unit review a couple of years ago. That ultimately led to the sale of its nutritional unit and the successful IPO of ~20% of its animal health business, Zoetis (ZTS) earlier this year. Investors have been hoping for something bigger though, especially following the successful… Read More »
Pfizer (PFE) generated a lot of buzz last year when it announced it was considering strategic options for several of its units. Its nutrition business has since been sold to Nestle for over $11b in cash and this week will bring about the IPO carve out of its animal health division, now known as Zoetis. The animal health… Read More »
Whenever a corporate executive has to publicly state that they will not be spinning something off, it’s generally only a matter of time. This is likely the case with GlaxoSmithKline(GSK) and its majority-owned Viiv Healthcare unit. Viiv, of which Glaxo owns 76.5%, recently filed for approval for its anti-HIV drug, dolutegravir. If the drug is approved, it is… Read More »
There are many hundreds of thousands of words in the English language, and zoetic is not one of the more common. The word, meaning “of or relating to life”, is the inspiration for Zoetis, the new name for Pfizer’s (PFE) soon to be independent Animal Health business. After over a year of speculation as to how Pfizer would… Read More »
It has been a long time since Pfizer (PFE) initiated a strategic review of its business units and in the meantime, there has been much speculation regarding which units the company would ultimately divest and the method of any such divestiture. After months of waiting (kind of reminds me of the Dwight Howard situation, except far less interesting),… Read More »