Author Archives: Inelegant Investor
Cash America(CSH) has withdrawn plans to conduct an IPO of the majority of its Enova International unit. The company had announced last September that it intended to offer a majority of the unit to investors, but retain a 35% to 49% stake. Cash America shareholders would not have received shares in the new firm. Cash America would have… Read More »
It’s been well over a year since we mentioned that Siemens(SI) was looking to divest its Osram lighting unit. Now, 16 months later, unable to get the price it wanted, or to conduct an IPO, the company plans to spin off the unit to shareholders. On its recent conference call, Siemens CEO Peter Loscher announced the plans: As… Read More »
As part of its recent spinoff of Engility(EGL), L-3 Communications(LLL) received $325 million in cash which it will use to retire $250 million in debt and repurchase $75 million in stock. Despite this balance sheet improvement, both S&P and Fitch left the company’s ratings unchanged. From S&P: Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today that its ratings and… Read More »
Earlier this week, we reported on rumors that VMWare(VMW) and EMC(EMC) were planning to spin off their cloud assets into a new company. Today, CRN reports that the company called the rumors ‘unfounded’ in an internal memo. In an internal memo Tuesday, VMware instructed its corps of global spokespeople to address questions about the rumored spin-offs by answering… Read More »
Defense contractor L-3 Communications(LLL) completed its spinoff of Engility Holdings(EGL) yesterday. L-3 shareholders as of July 16 received 1 share of Engility for every 6 shares of L-3 that they held. In its last day of when issued trading, Engility closed at $17.83, giving the company a market cap of just under $300 million. L-3 closed at $69.79… Read More »
Heinz(HNZ) is certainly one stock that needs no introduction as it is likely to be in your pantry, if not your portfolio. On CNBC’s Fast Money, host Jim Cramer told viewers that Heinz should spin off its frozen food business: “It’s time for Heinz to spin-off its frozen division as a separate company or find someone else… Read More »
It’s been five years since EMC(EMC) spun off a minority stake in VMware(VMW). Today, GigaOm reports that EMC, which owns around 80% of VMware, plans to spin out cloud assets from each company into a newly independent company. No word yet on what structure the spinoff will take or how it will be handled, but a surprising amount… Read More »
A reader writes: my broker cannot help me I had 6 calls 20 of SARA LEE due july 21 company was spinoff and is now hilshire SLE to HSH my calls are not listed anymore Am i eligible to the $ 3.00 per share bonus ? I want to sell my calls but there was a reverse split… Read More »
Saying that the investment was led by Ted Weschler or Todd Combs, Warren Buffett told Bloomberg today that Berkshire Hatahway(BRKB) has increased its holdings of Phillips 66(PSX) while continuing to sell former parent ConocoPhillips(COP). Berskhire reduced its holding in ConocoPhillips and bought into “some of the refining operation,” Buffett said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “In the… Read More »
Supervalu (SVU) is one of America’s largest grocery chains, but it only became so with its 2006 purchase of over 2,000 Albertson’s stores. Prior to that, Supervalu had been primarily a wholesale business, and it continues to remain a large grocery wholesaler. Yesterday, the stock plummeted after hours when the company reported declining earnings, suspended its dividend, suspended… Read More »
With the announcement last week that News Corp.(NWSA) would be spinning off its publishing business, analysts have been looking for copycat transactions to propose. It was inevitable that some of them would turn their attention to Time Warner(TWX), and, indeed Jeanine Poggi reports at AdAge that Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser renewed the calls for a Time Inc.… Read More »
Twenty seven years after Consolidated Foods became Sara Lee, Sara Lee is retiring as a corporate name. Months of preparation culminated in a flurry of activity today, in which Sara Lee shareholders received a goodie bag containing 1 share of D.E. Master Blenders 1753(DEMBF), an international coffee company trading in Amsterdam, a $3 special cash dividend, and 0.2… Read More »
In separate filings today, Dan Loeb, fresh off his successful fight for Yahoo(YHOO) board seats, revealed that he had increased his Sara Lee(SLE) stake, and John Paulson announced a new stake in the disappearing conglomerate. Sara Lee will be paying a special dividend of $3 per share and spinning off its coffee and tea business by June 30.… Read More »
We previously wrote about chatter that Pepsi(PEP) might spin off its Frito-Lay snack division, and Pepsi’s subsequent decision not to. But that was before Relational Partners got involved. The firm disclosed that it had accumulated .6% of the company. The company confirmed that “the company had ‘constructive meetings’ with the hedge fund and called Relational a ‘respected institution.’”… Read More »
Sara Lee(SLE) released earnings recently, and updated investors on the status of the upcoming $3 special dividend and spin off of its coffee and tea business as D.E. Master Blenders 1753. From the release: “I am pleased to announce that we are on track to spin-off the Coffee & Tea business by June 30. Significant progress has been… Read More »