You can’t win them all. Activist investor Carl Icahn suffered another defeat yesterday in his war on the Oshkosh Corporation (OSK) as only 22% of shareholders agreed to his tender offer. As you will recall (or if you don’t, check out our earlier pieces here and here), Mr. Icahn wanted the company to spin off its lift equipment… Read More »
It’s not easy being analog in a digital world, just ask Kodak. This is the predicament that Osram finds itself in. With 39,000 employees in 44 plants in 16 countries- but only two plants which manufacture LEDs, no wonder that parent Siemens(SI) was forced to spin the division off when it couldn’t find a buyer. It was announced… Read More »
Cookson Group (CKSNY) shareholders overwhelmingly approved the planned demerger of the company’s performance material division, Alent, at the shareholder meeting earlier this week. What a surprise! The demerger will be effective on December 19th and Cookson shareholders will receive one share of Alent and one share of the newly named Vesuvius for every share of Cookson owned. Both… Read More »
Not too long ago, Treasury Wine Estates(TSRYY) was a subsidiary of Fosters(FGL.AX). Since its own spin, it has been dogged by discussions that it should spin its profitable Penfolds business off as a separate firm. Though Treasury doesn’t break out numbers Speculation about a spin-off was given a boost last week when Macquarie analyst Greg Dring published a… Read More »
Abbott’s(ABT) spinoff of AbbVie(ABBV) passed its final hurdle yesterday as the Board approved the plan. Shareholders of Abbott at the close of business on December 12 will receive, on January 1, one share of AbbVie for each share of Abbott that they own. The shares are expected to begin trading on the ew York Stock Exchange on January… Read More »
‘If at first you don’t succeed, wait for a spinoff then try, try again’ Not how I remember it either, but that seems to have been ConAgra’s (CAG) approach in its pursuit of Ralcorp (RAH). After three prior takeover attempts were rebuffed, the company finally succeeded in reeling in its prey for the tidy sum of $90 per… Read More »
As we reported earlier, Siemens(SI) board was meeting today to discuss moving forward with the spinoff of its Osram lighting division. Today, the company announced that the board will propose the spinoff to shareholders at its Annual General Meeting on January 23. The plan requires 75% approval at the AGM. The company will be distributing 80.5% of Osram… Read More »
We’ll admit it, when we wrote, with more than a little derision, about U.S Rare Earth Minerals'(USMN) planned spinoff of Bio Multimin, we assumed it would slink back into the mud, where it belongs, never to be heard of again. We were surprised then, to see today, nine months later, that the company not only still existed, but… Read More »
In July, we reported that VMWare(VMW) had plans to spin off its CloudFoundry business. Two days later, we reported that the company denied the rumor in an internal memo. Now, GigaOm is reporting that the spinoff is on. Its is expected that the move will be announced next week. The report states that all non-core VMWare divisions will… Read More »
Some spinoffs, like Bogen, have practically happened before you know about them. Others seem to be perpetually upcoming, with periodic reports indicating little progress. The long-discussed spinoff of Osram by Siemens(SI) falls into the latter category. We most recently discussed this in the summer, over a year after our first mention. As you may recall, after being unable… Read More »
Petrobank Energy (PBG.TO) is officially cutting the cord with its majority owned subsidiary Petrobakken (PBN.TO). While the company first listed a piece of PetroBakken back in 2009, it only recently announced plans to spin off its remaining 57% stake. The transaction seems a bit complex, but in the end, there will be two companies: a new Petrobank and… Read More »
Well…that was relatively quick. Shortly after entering into exclusive talks with Apollo Global Management (APO), McGraw-Hill (MHP) announced that it has reached a deal with the private equity firm to sell off its education unit. The rumored price tag of $2.5b turned out to be correct, so kudos to those rumormongers. Additionally, as part of the transaction, McGraw-Hill… Read More »
Earlier this month, AbbVie (ABBV) completed a debt offering totaling $14.7 billion, making it the largest high grade offering in U.S history by over $1 billion and the largest of the year by nearly $5 billion. The offering was said to be hugely oversubscribed with word of $47 billion in orders. AbbVie, which will be spun off to… Read More »
Bogen Communications International(BOGN) announced yesterday that it would be spinning off its subsidiary, Bogen Corporation. Interested in participating or in just learning more? Too bad. The company, which delisted and stopped filing with the SEC in 2004, actually made the decision on October 31, and applied it to shareholders as of November 19, before it announced its plans… Read More »
Shareholders of Sears Holdings(SHLD) have been once again reminded that entropy is inexorably increasing, at least in their brokerage accounts. Less than a year ago they had only Sears, but since then, they have received in three separate transactions, Orchard Supply Hardware common (OSH) and preferred (OSHSP), warrants to buy Sears Hometown and Outlets (SHOS), and now, Sears… Read More »