Avoid trading on certain days? Superstitious at all? Management at Ntelos Holding (NTLS) certainly are not as the company plans on separating its wireline and wireless businesses this coming Halloween (October 31st). Maybe it was just time to close the transaction after first announcing it last December. For those who are unclear about the differences between the two… Read More »
Late October is shaping up to be a pretty busy period for spinoffs and one of the many expected separations will be IDT Corporation’s (IDT) spinoff of Genie Energy. Please read our earlier post about the spin here, but as a quick refresher, the plan is to spin out IDT’s energy assets from its telecommunications business. Yes, IDT… Read More »
The big news this morning is Kinder Morgan Inc’s (KMI) $20+b cash and stock deal to acquire El Paso Corp (EP) in a bid to become the largest natural gas pipeline operator in the US. The price represents a hefty ~37% premium to El Paso’s recent close. As a refresher, Kinder Morgan was taken private in a mega… Read More »
While speaking at a recent Barclay’s Energy Conference, ConocoPhillips (COP) CEO Jim Mulva provided an update on the company’s broad strategic repositioning plan including some additional details on its upcoming spinoff (see our earlier article on the spin here). The plan is to create a pure-play E&P company (retaining the Conoco name) along with a new downstream company.… Read More »
In stark contrast to the American people’s growing heft, American conglomerates appear to be on a steady diet, often slimming down via spinoffs. Break up expert and Swiss-conglomerate Tyco International (TYC) is the latest fad follower as the company announced plans to split itself into three separate companies. The new businesses will be: ADT North America (residential security):… Read More »
In what appears to be another ‘win’ for activist investors, defense contractor L-3 Communications (LLL) announced that it will spin out its government services business in the first half of 2012. The company faced pressure from Ralph Whitworth’s Relational Investors (who are also involved in the ITT [ITT] situation) to jettison non-core business units in order to improve… Read More »
The old rumor mill got another one right. AMR Corporation (AMR), American Airline’s (‘AA’) parent company, recently announced its intention to move ahead with a spinoff of American Eagle, its short-haul regional carrier. Eagle, the US’s third largest regional airline (at least based on aircraft operated – it’s fourth in fare-paying passengers), generates revenues from operating flights and… Read More »
Amidst the current carnage, it feels a bit disingenuous singling out one or two individual stocks for poor performance, but some spin-offs have taken quite a beating recently. Just prior to the increase in market ‘volatility’, nursing home operator and health care REIT stocks nose-dived because the CMS announced a harsher than expected (11.1%) cut in Medicare reimbursement… Read More »
Activist investors appear to be back and are once again using their clout to influence corporate decision making. Occasionally, this can lead to a spinoff such as the case with Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square and Fortune Brands (FO) or Carl Icahn and Motorola. Of course, not every company is looking for outside ‘advice’. Consider the recent news regarding… Read More »
One of my favorite and often overlooked parts of examining spinoffs is the choice of name for the new entity. Generally, this decision requires zero thought as there is a division or some well known product making the choice obvious, such as in the case of Madison Square Garden or Babcock & Wilcox (well…maybe that one isn’t the best example). However, occasionally management needs to flex its creative muscles (by which I mean hire some… Read More »
Ending a short-lived marriage, Ralcorp(RAH) announced plans today to spin off its Post Cereals business as an independent company. The company hopes to complete the spinoff in the next 4 to 6 months. Ralcorp. which itself was spun out of Ralston Purina in 1994, purchased the Post Brands from Kraft(KFT) in August 2008. Ralcorp, which will continue to… Read More »
A few months ago, pharma giant Pfizer (PFE) got a boost when Sanford Bernstein analyst Tim Anderson (and a few other street colleagues) mentioned that company management was open to spinning off or selling parts of the business. This set off a flurry of reports analyzing potential castaways with estimates ending up as high as 4 divisions shed… Read More »
ConocoPhillips(COP), one of the world’s six “supermajor” oil companies has decided that the benefits to vertical integration are not all they’re cracked up to be. The company announced today that it will be spinning off its refining business in the first half of 2012, leaving it as a pure-play exploration and production business. At the time of the… Read More »
Sears Holdings(SHLD) announced today that it plans to spin off Orchard Supply Hardware. Orchard operates 89 full service hardware stores in California, averaging 40,600 square feet. No date or distribution ratio have been set, but the company does state in its S-1 that it hopes to trade under the OSHS symbol. After the spinoff, ESL investments and affiliates,… Read More »
The network behind Mad Men is about to be set free as Cablevision Systems’ (CVC) board of directors approved the spinoff of AMC Networks (formerly known as Rainbow Media). The new company will trade under the ticker AMCX with the share distribution occurring on June 30 to shareholders on June 16th (today). Bear in mind that the Dolan family of NY basketball/hockey… Read More »