That didn’t take long. Just a month after first publicizing his position, Carl Icahn fired another salvo in his campaign to break off PayPal from EBay (EBAY). Mr. Icahn sent an open letter to EBay shareholders informing them that he has uncovered ‘multiple lapses in corporate governance’ at the company and that ‘the complete disregard for accountability at eBay is… Read More »
Tribune’s (TRBAA) upcoming publishing spinoff is on track to be completed later this year and as part of the transaction, the new company will issue new debt in order to fund a dividend to the parent company. While not an uncommon feature of spinoff transactions, the move is drawing a lot of negative attention from news outlets and… Read More »
Noble Corp (NE) has finally unveiled the new name for its upcoming standard spec drilling unit spinoff. No fancy consultants used here, no Russian sex act, no Portmanteau. Instead the company went bold and set the bar high by naming the new company Paragon Offshore. No surprise coming from a company with the name Noble. In fact, the… Read More »
After Murphy Oil (MUR) announced a spinoff in late 2012, Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Sankey had a few ideas for whom the next spinoff candidates in the energy space might be. His top picks? Hess Corporation (HES) and Occidental Petroleum (OXY). Congrats Mr. Sankey, you deserve a nice pat on the bac,k because not one, but both companies… Read More »
Last September we noted that Tribune (TRBAA) was following the industry playbook and spinning off its publishing assets into a separate company. According to a recent article, the company is eyeing to complete the transaction sometime in the middle of the year, either Q2 or early Q3. At the time of the announcement, the company estimated that the… Read More »
For some reason, spins tend to cluster around the end of the month, and January 31st witnessed some impressive action with the completion of two separate transactions. First off, ONEOK (OKE) completed the spinoff of its natural gas distribution business ONE Gas (OGS). The new company is trading under the ticker ‘OGS’ and shareholders of ONEOK should have… Read More »
The Dover(DOV) Board has approved the company’s previously announced spin off of Knowles(KN). Dover shareholders of record as of February 19, 2014 will receive one share of Knowles on February 28 for every two shares of Dover that they own. Knowles, which will trade under the ticker KN, will begin regular way trading on March 3. Both stocks… Read More »
Last week, we reported that Illinois Tool Works(ITW) had decided to sell its Industrial Packaging Unit rather than spin it off. Now, the company has reached an agreement to sell the unit to the Carlyle Group for $3.2 billion. The deal values the business at 8.5 times EBITDA. This represents a continuation of a trend where conglomerates are… Read More »
When I say furniture, you say…electronics manufacturing? Such is the odd pairing at Kimball International (KBALB) which currently operates two pretty distinct segments: furniture and electronic manufacturing services. Apparently, this diverse lineup was just too much for investors to handle, so the company announced that it would break itself up and pursue a spinoff of Kimball Electronics. I… Read More »
S&P announced yesterday that upcoming Oneok (OKE) spinoff ONE Gas will be joining the S&P Midcap 400 after the spin is completed this Friday (January 31st). The new company will be one of the largest natural gas utilities in the US and consist of the Kansas Gas Service, Oklahoma Natural Gas Company and the Texas Gas Service. ONE Gas will be giving… Read More »
Sometimes rumors and hints actually turn into reality. We noted last May that real estate wizard Barry Sternlicht, Chairman of Starwood Property Trust (STWD), hinted at a possible spinoff of a residential REIT during a company conference call. Just a few months later the company made it official and announced that its board of directors approved the spin off… Read More »
With his public battle over Dell finished, Carl Ichan didn’t take too long in drumming up a new target. The famous corporate raider is now pushing eBay (EBAY) to spin off its online transaction business, PayPal, and submitted this idea for a non-binding vote at an upcoming shareholder meeting. Along with a spinoff, Mr. Icahn is also seeking… Read More »
While Mr. Malone was busy making other news, Liberty Global (LBTYA) revealed in a filing related to a separate transaction that it was considering a spinoff of its Latin American businesses. A John Malone company thinking about a spinoff? In the words of Capt. Louis Renault ‘Im shocked, shocked’. From the 8-K filing: Liberty Global is disclosing in the offering memorandum… Read More »
Breakups and spinoff ideas are forming everywhere. The WSJ had an article this past weekend discussing a possible spinoff of Johnson Controls’ (JCI) seating business. JCI operates three different business segments – building efficiency, auto supply and power supplies (batteries) – with auto supply, which includes seating, being the largest segment in terms of revenue. The company has a strong… Read More »
With new regulations, capital requirements, lawsuits and scandals popping up, it is no surprise that the big banks have been doing some soul searching. ‘Derisking’ has become in vogue (or mandatory) and in response units have been shed and trading desks cut. Mediobanca analyst Chris Wheeler thinks UBS (UBS) might have something much bigger in the works though… Read More »