‘Resistance is futile’ – The Borg Star Trek fans will no doubt recognize the famed motto of those nasty, robotic, intergalactic conquerors hell-bent on assimilation. What they won’t know is that the phrase is also rumored to be frequently muttered at company board meetings after Ralph Whitworth’s Relational Investors announces a stake. The activist firm has been quite a… Read More »
Companies constantly change their plans and just because a spinoff gets announced doesn’t mean it actually gets done. It’s (unfortunately) quite common for plans to get scrapped or altered in some way and sometimes the unit to be spun off is just sold instead. While we try our best to stay on top of the news, some names get… Read More »
Merger Mondays are back. The latest mega deal announced is Medtronic’s (MDT) ~$42.9b takeover of device maker Covidien (COV). The deal price represents a ~30% premium and includes $35.19 of cash and 0.956 Medtronic shares. While Medtronic’s management is out touting the numerous cost savings and synergies gained through the deal, the main motivation behind the deal appears to… Read More »
CBS (CBS) finally released details on its plan to ‘split off’ its remaining 81% stake in CBS Outdoors (CBSO). After successfully raising ~$2b selling 19% of the outdoor advertising company in an IPO a few months ago, the company is offering a voluntary exchange offer to dispose of its remaining shares. CBS Class B shareholders will be able… Read More »
We didn’t really cover this saga, but last year Hess Corporation (HES) was embroiled in a heated proxy battle with Paul Singer’s Elliott Management. The fund argued (and put together a nice presentation) that the company was poorly managed, had lousy governance (too many cronies on the board) and was undervalued on a sum of the parts basis.… Read More »
We are big fans of Jana Partners here. Although the fund describes its investment approach as ‘value plus catalyst’, it’s not afraid to get vocal and create its own catalyst. Just ask Agrium’s (AGU) management team. While that situation didn’t achieve the desired result, the firm has notched numerous activist victories including the spinoffs (or possible spins) at… Read More »
Last month, we wrote about speculation that B/E Aerospace(BEAV) might result in the spinoff of assets. Today, the company announced that it will indeed split into two independent companies, one focused on Manufacturing, and one on Services. The company expects the spin off to occur in the first quarter of 2015. The co-CEO’s statement in support of the… Read More »
Following up on last week’s slew of index changes, another spin off resulted in another index change yesterday. The Ensign Group(ENSG) completed its spin off of CareTrust REIT(CTREV) after yesterday’s close. Subsequent to the spin, CareTrust joined its former parent in the S&P SmallCap 600, pushing out struggling insurer Tower Group International(TWGP). Given that both stocks are in… Read More »
Last week featured a full line up of spinoffs with Simon Property Group (SPG) spinning off the Washington Prime Group (WPG) on Wednesday, May 28, and National Oilwell Varco (NOV) and Oil States International (OIS) spinning off NOW Inc (DNOW) and Civeo (CVEO) respectively on Friday, May 30. The new companies are all significant enough to force a reshuffle of… Read More »
National Oilwell Varco (NOV) completed the spinoff of its distribution company, NOW Inc (DNOW) last week. The new company trades under the ticker ‘DNOW’ and NOV shareholders should have received 1 share of the new company for every 4 NOV shares owned. The spin was completed after the close at the end of May, but today will mark… Read More »
As planned, Oil States International (OIS) completed its spinoff of accommodations unit Civeo (CVEO) after the close of business on Friday, May 30, 2014. OIS shareholders received two shares of Civeo for each share they owned. As is often the case, each company issued its own, slightly different press release this morning marking the completion of the transaction.… Read More »
What is one thing that both real estate brokers and shareholders really love? A BIDDING WAR! That’s right, M&A is heating up and surprisingly it’s a packaged meat company that is at the heart of the recent excitement. The action all started a few weeks ago when Hillshire Brands (HSH) announced that it would acquire Pinnacle Foods(PF) at… Read More »
This week is quite a busy week in the spinoff world. The action started yesterday with the completion of Simon Property Group’s (SPG) spinoff of the Washington Prime Group. The new company will hold interests in 98 retail assets including Simon’s strip center business and select, smaller malls. The new company, a REIT, is trading under the ticker ‘WPG‘… Read More »
Exelis (XLS) is currently in the process of spinning off its government services business, Vectrus. The spin is expected to be completed sometime this summer and Barron’s ran a piece a few weeks ago suggesting that the parent company has a lot of upside at its current levels: The remaining company will be a pure-play defense electronics business, aligned… Read More »
What to do when a majority of your shareholders support calling a special meeting before you divest an important asset? Go ahead, ignore them, and do what you want, says Darden(DRI). With the $2.1 billion sale of Red Lobster a fait accompli, despite strong opposition from holders, Starboard Value has stepped on the gas in its attack. While… Read More »