It looks like Rich Battista will get his chance to dilate Time,Inc.(TIME) after all. After months of speculation and talks, beginning just after he began as CEO last fall, Time announced on Friday that its Board had determined not to sell the company at this time and to instead continue pursuing Battista’s strategic plan. What is the key… Read More »
If there is a big corporate trend, you can bet that high priced consultants were behind the idea or have since hopped on board offering advice on how to do it better. As spinoffs have become more popular, BCG has penned a number of articles on spinoffs and corporate divestitures. Their most recent piece notes that although spinoffs… Read More »
Though the majority of Johnson Controls(JCI) revenue derives from its automotive business, there has long been talk of spinning off the unit. Yesterday, the company announced that “it is exploring strategic options for the separation of its automotive business”. Of course, you know which strategic option we are rooting for. “Today’s announcement continues our strategy of proactive portfolio… 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 »
After a busy Halloween, it is time to look ahead to the next spinoff opportunities. Luckily we won’t have to wait long as Marriott International’s (MAR) board of directors recently approved the spinoff of its vacation club, Marriott Vacations Worldwide. The distribution is expected to take place on November 21st (to shareholders as of Nov 10th) and shareholders… Read More »
Image by Getty Images via @daylife ArcelorMittal’s (MT) board confirmed its plan to spin-off the company’s stainless steel division in the hope of ‘maximizing shareholder value’ and capturing the division’s growth potential. The new company, which will be called APERAM, will be listed on several international exchanges (including Euronext Paris and Amsterdam), but will only trade OTC in… Read More »
Cover via Amazon A corporate conglomerate is truly a wonderful thing. Growth through acquisitions often leaves these companies quite bloated and operating in unexpected areas though. Sometimes this is done on purpose in order to diversify exposure by investing in unrelated areas. These ancillary businesses surrounding the ‘core’ can be quite surprising and make you go ‘Really?’ –… Read More »
Image via Wikipedia Despite the optimism of spinoff investors, not every spin is a success story…at least when measured by stock price appreciation. In late August of 2009, offshore rig contractor Pride International (PDE) spun off its shallow water operations into the newly formed Seahawk Drilling (HAWK). The great ticker could not overcome the poor industry fundamentals and… Read More »
The GGP drama is finally nearing its end and time is running out to jump aboard the Howard Hughes Corporation prior to its spinoff from General Growth Properties (GGP). With GGP’s emergence from bankruptcy around the corner, the company announced November 1st as the date for distribution of shares of the two separate publicly traded corporations. According to… Read More »
Image via CrunchBase Ever since eBay (EBAY) unloaded its stake in Skype last year, there has been fierce speculation that they would do the same with PayPal, the popular online transaction company. Here is a piece in the New York Times from earlier this year making the case that a spinoff is needed in order for PayPal to… Read More »
Image via Wikipedia Amidst the turmoil of 2009, my alma mater hosted a small gathering for its alumni working on Wall Street. Typically, these events involve a fair amount of drinking, active networking, soliciting of donations and the inevitable token ‘brief’ remarks from someone in the industry. That evening’s guest of honor was none other than Bill Ackman,… Read More »
As Ted pointed out in the last comment thread, Parametric Sound Corporation finally announced a ticker last week. The stock will trade on the OTCBB as PAMT. So far the stock has fallen from a high of $.50 to $.30 on low volume, but not much here until the company can start showing some revenues.Meanwhile, former parent LRAD… Read More »
Parametric Sound, which was spun off by LRAD earlier this week, still has no ticker on any market as far as we can tell. LRAD, on the other hand, is up over 50% today on news that it had received a huge order from a foreign government. THe order will deliver $12.1 million in revenue in the first… Read More »
Image via Wikipedia In my last post I took a look at the ‘rumor mill’, but sometimes you just don’t seem them coming (even if they make sense). In mid-June this year, Sunoco Inc (SUN) announced its plans to spin-off SunCoke Energy in the first half of 2011. Sunoco is principally a petroleum refiner and marketer and chemicals… Read More »
Ealier, we wrote on the upcoming LRAD spinoff of Parametric Sound in LRAD to Spin Off Parametric Sound, The Company Nobody Wanted. Things have proceeded and the company will be distributing 1 share in Parametric Sound on September 27 for every 2 shares of LRAD owned on September 10. The new company will trade on the OTCBB and… Read More »