Computer Sciences Corporation(CSC) announced that its Board had approved the spinoff and subsequent merger of CSRA, as well as a $10.50 special dividend. After the market close on Friday, November 27(which is the day after Thanksgiving and will be at 1PM), CSC shareholders as of November 18 will receive one share of CSRA for each share of CSC held.… Read More »
It looks a bidding war has emerged for Starwood Hotels (HOT), with three Chinese players and Hyatt Hotels (H) all chasing the well respected hospitality brand. Kudos to those i-bankers for drumming up the interest, especially given the fact that the Chinese government rarely lets its corporate citizens get into bidding wars. While M&A is always exciting to… Read More »
Some activist funds like to work behind the scenes and then there are the others which seem to be in the news almost every day. A day after making waves at Yahoo (YHOO), Jeffrey Smith’s Starboard Value fund was back in the news after long time target MeadWestvaco (MWV) announced plans to spin off its specialty chemical business… Read More »
The trend towards tax-efficient divestitures continues with Axiall (AXLL) – previously called Georgia Gulf Corporation – obtaining PPG’s (PPG) former commodity chemicals business using a Reverse Morris Trust. The trend of using Reverse Morris Trusts to ‘sell’ divisions has been previously reported by Stock Spinoffs here. In the transaction, PPG created a short-lived spinoff, Eagle Spinco, and allowed… Read More »
MeadWestvaco(MWV) announced this morning that shareholders as of April 24, will receive .32986547 shares of ACCO Brands(ABD) on May 1, following the spinoff of the company’s Consumer & Office Products Business, and its subsequent merger with ACCO. Concurrent with the merger, ACCO will change its ticker from ABD to ACCO. The transaction is a “Reverse Morris Trust”, which… Read More »
In a famous Saturday Night Live sketch, a young Steve Martin promised that “You too can be a millionaire, and not pay taxes.” While the advice he proceeded to give was ineffective, using a reverse Morris Trust, your favorite company can sell off a division and not pay taxes. How you ask? Simple. First, borrow as much debt… Read More »