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 »
Suntory Holdings will acquire Beam Inc (BEAM) for ~$13.6b in cash or $83.50 per share, representing a 25% premium to Friday’s close. Beam, owner of Jim Beam, Makers Mark, Canadian Club and more, is the largest US based spirits maker and the combination with Suntory will create the third largest spirits player in the world. The deal has… Read More »
Agilent Technologies (A) unveiled the name of its upcoming electronic measurement spinoff company as Keysight Technologies. The name is actually a combination of the words ‘key’ and ‘insight’ although dropping the ‘in’ from insight does seem to make it lose meaning. So why those two specific words? Ahhh because the new company will have the ‘ability to see… Read More »
After obtaining the necessary approvals from numerous regulatory bodies, including most recently the Kansas Commission, ONEOK’s (OKE) board of directors officially approved the spinoff of its natural gas distribution business, One Gas. 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 Texas Gas Service.… Read More »
WPX Energy (WPX) announced that its CEO & President, Ralph Hill, would be stepping down at the end of the year and that a new committee was being formed to find his replacement. No reason was reported in the press release. Mr. Hill had been with WPX and its parent company Williams (WMB) for over 30 years and… Read More »
A familiar name to readers of this site was leading the pack of top gainers for a bit last Thursday and the reason was a bit surprising. Exelis (XLS), a defense contractor freshly spun out of ITT (ITT), announced that it would pursue a spinoff of its own by separating its military and government services business into a standalone unit.… Read More »
Harvard Bioscience (HBIO) recently completed the spinoff of its regenerative medicine device subsidiary, Harvard Apparatus Regenerative Technologies (HART). As we previously noted, the parent’s CEO and other top management moved to the spinco, creating a leadership void. The posts have since been filled and the company recently announced the details of some further ‘inducement grants’ for its new management team. Here… Read More »
Ingersoll-Rand (IR) completed the spinoff of its commercial and residential security business, Allegion (ALLE). The new company started trading today on the NYSE and IR shareholders should have received 1 share of ALLE for every 3 shares of IR owned. The new company is expected to have revenues of over $2b and EBITDA of over $400m. For much… Read More »
If Kimberly-Clark (KMB) ever misses its health care division in the midst of its breakup, it will still have lots of Kleenex to cry into. The manufacturer of Huggies diapers announced last week that it planned to spin off its health care division to shareholders. Like many of the companies we discuss, Kimberly-Clark is something of a serial… Read More »
The WSJ publishes a weekly column titled ‘Boss Talk’ where it picks the brain of CEOs and other top brass from big companies. A few weeks ago the paper spoke with Mike Petters, CEO of Huntington Ingalls (HII), a spinoff from Northrop Grumman (NOC). This week the paper sat down with Juan Ramon Alaix, CEO of Zoetis (ZTS),… Read More »
National Oilwell Varco (NOV) recently announced plans to spin off its distribution business to shareholders sometime in the first half of next year. Its MRO business won’t be the only thing leaving the company though, as current Chairman and CEO Merill ‘Pete’ Miller will be stepping down from his post and joining the new company as Executive Chairman.… Read More »
Six months after completing its spinoff of CST Brands(CST), Valero(VLO) has sold off all of its remaining shares in the convenience store operator, CST announced yesterday. Valero sold 15,079,448 shares in an underwritten public offering after the underwriters exercised their over-allotment option in full. CST has risen 8.98% since its May 2 close, lagging the S&P 500. Nonetheless, given… Read More »
It’s almost go time for Ingersoll Rand’s (IR) spinoff of Allegion, its commercial and residential security business. Shareholders will receive one share of Allegion for every 3 shares of IR owned with the distribution taking place on December 1st to shareholders as of the November 22nd record date. The new company will trade on the NYSE under the… Read More »
Never heard of SunEdison(SUNE)? Perhaps you know it better by its old name, MEMC Electronic Materials. The name was only the first thing to change in the company’s ongoing evolution. In August, the company announced plans to spin off its semiconductor business, which had been its initial core business. The company plans to conduct an IPO for a… Read More »
Like many companies with a focus on natural gas, Encana(ECA) has struggled with the glut of production causing sustained low prices. To some extent, the company has successfully shifted production to oil and natural gas liquids which have had far better economics over the past few years. There is still more that the company needs to do, however,… Read More »