Author Archives: Inelegant Investor
We wrote last week about Madison Square Garden Company’s(MSG) plan to explore a spinoff of its sports and entertainment business. The company is in the early stages of planning this transaction and there still remain many unanswered questions. Capital New York reports that CEO Tad Smith confirmed on last Friday’s earnings conference call that the company has not… Read More »
The Dolan family is at it again. Perhaps inspired by the master of the spinoff, fellow cable mogul John Malone, 2010 Cablevision(CVC) spinoff The Madison Square Garden Company(MSG) has announced that it is exploring spinning off its Media and Sports business from its Live Entertainment business. The company’s Board Of Directors unanimously approved the plan to explore the… Read More »
Lexology has a nice overview of tax inversions and the government response to them. Of particular note to us was one practice Treasury has sought to end, known as “spinversions”: No Spinversions. The U.S. entity would not be allowed to transfer its assets to its current foreign subsidiaries and then spin off those subsidiaries to its public shareholders… Read More »
Last month, Compuware(CPWR) agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo. As part of the deal, Compuware committed to divest all shares of Covisint(COVS) that it retained after conducting an IPO within 60 days. Well within its window, Compuware announced on Friday that it would be distributing the shares at the end of the month. Compuware… Read More »
Only a few scant months ago, Civeo (CVEO) was born, spun out of Oil States International (OIS) after activist pressure from Jana Partners and David Einhorn. The plan was for the workforce accommodations firm to convert to a REIT, as we described in this May post: Looking ahead, Civeo is studying the possible conversion to REIT status however,… Read More »
We first discussed the idea that Ebay(EBAY) might spin off PayPal nearly four years ago, on October 28, 2010. More recently, the company and CEO John Donahoe repeatedly resisted withering attacks from legendary activist investor Carl Icahn, who began pushing for the spinoff early this year. Today, the company has reversed course, and announced that it will spin… Read More »
The Financial Times reports that Anglo American(AAUKY) has significant assets it would like to divest, CEO Mark Cutifani feels the company can do better by selling off assets piecemeal than by following in the path of BHP Billiton(BHP) and spinning them off to shareholders. But Mr Cutifani said the “portfolio work” at Anglo would entail a number of… Read More »
Less than a week after the completion of an exchange offer that fully separated it from former parent CBS (CBS), and its subsequent conversion to REIT status, CBS Outdoor (CBSO) has announced a major acquisition which will grow the company’s footprint significantly. The company will be purchasing approximately 1100 billboards from Van Wagner Communications, LLC for $690 million in… Read More »
You may not know Masco (MAS) but they’re in your bathroom, they’re in your kitchen, they’re even in and on your walls. With brands such as Delta faucets, Behr paints, KraftMaid cabinets, and one of the largest installers of insulation products, Masco grossed $8.2 billion in revenue in last year, down from a 2006 peak of $12.7 billion.… Read More »
Last month, we wrote about speculation that B/E Aerospace(BEAV) might result in the spinoff of assets. Today, the company announced that it will indeed split into two independent companies, one focused on Manufacturing, and one on Services. The company expects the spin off to occur in the first quarter of 2015. The co-CEO’s statement in support of the… Read More »
Following up on last week’s slew of index changes, another spin off resulted in another index change yesterday. The Ensign Group(ENSG) completed its spin off of CareTrust REIT(CTREV) after yesterday’s close. Subsequent to the spin, CareTrust joined its former parent in the S&P SmallCap 600, pushing out struggling insurer Tower Group International(TWGP). Given that both stocks are in… Read More »
Last week featured a full line up of spinoffs with Simon Property Group (SPG) spinning off the Washington Prime Group (WPG) on Wednesday, May 28, and National Oilwell Varco (NOV) and Oil States International (OIS) spinning off NOW Inc (DNOW) and Civeo (CVEO) respectively on Friday, May 30. The new companies are all significant enough to force a reshuffle of… Read More »
As planned, Oil States International (OIS) completed its spinoff of accommodations unit Civeo (CVEO) after the close of business on Friday, May 30, 2014. OIS shareholders received two shares of Civeo for each share they owned. As is often the case, each company issued its own, slightly different press release this morning marking the completion of the transaction.… Read More »
What to do when a majority of your shareholders support calling a special meeting before you divest an important asset? Go ahead, ignore them, and do what you want, says Darden(DRI). With the $2.1 billion sale of Red Lobster a fait accompli, despite strong opposition from holders, Starboard Value has stepped on the gas in its attack. While… Read More »
Every Spring in Chicago gives birth to new hope that this year will be different. It is rarely long, however, before hopes for this year are dashed and talk shifts to a focus on rebuilding for next year. We are not talking about the Cubs, but rather about iconic Chicago retailer Sears Holdings(SHLD). Once again, Sears posted a… Read More »