Author Archives: Inelegant Investor
The Dolan family has spent the better part of the decade spinning off assets. The dynasty behind Cablevision(CVC) spun off the Madison Square Garden Company(MSG) in 2010, followed by AMC Networks(AMCX) in 2011. Now, all three companies are in the midst of radical transformations. Early this morning, Cablevision announced that it would be acquired by French telecom Altice… Read More »
Capital Southwest Corporation(CSWC), a Business Development Company, announced late last year that it would spin off its industrial products, coatings, sealants and adhesives and specialty chemicals businesses into a separate, publicly traded company. Yesterday, the company announced that its Board of Directors had approved the spinoff of CSW Industrials. The new company will trade under the ticker CSWI. Shareholders… Read More »
After months of putting on a brave face in the face of mounting IRS resistance to its proposed spinoff of Alibaba(BABA) shares as Aabaco Holdings, Yahoo(YHOO) was served another setback last week. In a filing late today, the comapny revealed that the IRS had declined to issue a ruling on the taxable status of the transaction. On January 27,… Read More »
Cree(CREE), a leader in LED lighting also has a North Carolina-based Power & RF business which has no overlap with the core business. In May, the company announced that it planned an IPO of the Power & RF business, and that it had filed with the SEC towards that goal. The company plans to sell a minority stake… Read More »
Verizon(VZ) is a proto-spinoff. At its core rest two of the original baby bells, Bell Atlantic and NYNEX, although it didn’t take on the Verizon moniker until after its merger with GTE(as part of that merger, GTE spun off Genuity). Verizon later purchased other spinoff related companies such as Alltel, which had spun off its wireline business into… Read More »
Just two months after its spinoff from Baxter International(BAX), as it continues to reject acquisition interest from Shire(SHPG), Baxalta(BXLT) is in talks to acquire Ariad Pharmaceuticals(ARIA). Ariad jumped 42% on the news last Friday, valuing the oncology company at nearly $2 billion. What is driving this potential acquisition? Is it the “Promise of the Baxalta Spark“? Perhaps it’s… Read More »
Abbott Labs(ABT), which spun off AbbVie(ABBV) in one of the largest spinoffs in recent years, is preparing to make a $25 billion bid for St. Jude Medical(STJ) according to a report in the Financial Times. Abbott and St Jude, which is based in St Paul, Minnesota, already have a strong alliance in the field of cardiovascular devices, and… Read More »
Yahoo(YHOO) investors may be learning a costly lesson in the dangers of tax efficiency. Under pressure from investors to maximize the value of its Alibaba(BABA) stake, the company unveiled a plan to spin off the stake, with a small business unit, as Aabaco Holdings. The spinoff was intended to avoid paying $12 billion in taxes. For months, however… Read More »
The Summer of Spin kicked off a little over one month ago, but already one of the spinoffs might be acquired. Shire(SHPG) unveiled an offer to acquire last month’s Baxter International (BAX) spinoff, Baxalta(BXLT). According to the release, Shire contacted Baxalta in early July- immediately after the spinoff, met briefly on July 10, but Baxalta has not seriously considered… Read More »
More spins mean more work for the folks at S&P Dow Jones Indices. With the completion of Barnes & Noble’s(BKS) spin of Barnes & Noble Education(BNED) this weekend, Barnes & Noble Education will join its parent in the S&P SmallCap 600, replacing A.M. Castle & Co(CAS). The change will maintain the index’s current ampersand level. With the completion… Read More »
More Summer Of Spin action as Lumentum and Viavi step into the light. A decade after shedding the unwieldy JDS Uniphase(JDSU) name for the alphabet soup JDSU, the former dotcom bubble will say goodbye to this name as well as it splits into Lumentum Holdings and Viavi Solutions this weekend. The stock, which traded at over $1000 in… Read More »
As it continues along its primrose path to irrelevancy, Barnes & Noble(BKS) will complete its long-discussed spinoff of Barnes & Noble Education this weekend. Though the company had formerly combined its NOOK with the College business, it opted, in the end, to retain the NOOK business, and just hired Fred Argir to lead that business. It should be… Read More »
Following in the time honored tradition of Yellow Pages locksmiths, Yahoo(YHOO) has opted to name its upcoming spinoff Aabaco Holdings. Perhaps if they stick enough A’s in the name, they can get tax free status for the spin. Though no uplifting corporate message was given for the name, which presumably rhymes with tobacco, it appears to be a… Read More »
With all the spinoff excitement, Forbes looks ahead at the next brands that might be granted independence by their corporate overlords. Ebay(EBAY)’s StubHub. StubHub dominates live event ticket reselling. On the heels of a successful spinoff of PayPal, perhaps Ebay will go back to the well and spin off StubHub. Time Warner(TWX)’s HBO. Time Warner is no stranger… Read More »
A year after its spinoff from National Oilwell Varco (NOV), NOW Inc.(DNOW) continues to roll up distributors with the acquisition of Odessa Pumps, its eighth acquisition since the spin. Robert Workman, President and CEO of NOW Inc., commented, “The addition of Odessa Pumps and Equipment not only offers DistributionNOW the ability to expand our products and services offerings… Read More »