Earlier this week, Demand Media(DMD) announced plans to split into a domain registration business and a content business. Though the opportunity seems promising, it was difficult to evaluate without the numbers for the business broken out, which, to our knowledge, the company had not done publicly. We were pleased, then, to read the transcript of the conference call… Read More »
When United Online (UNTD) first announced plans to spin off its FTD floral business last summer, the company anticipated it would be completed this quarter. In November, the company hoped to complete the transaction by August. Yesterday, the company released its fourth quarter earnings, and now hopes to complete the transaction by the end of the third quarter.… Read More »
The trend towards tax-efficient divestitures continues with Axiall (AXLL) – previously called Georgia Gulf Corporation – obtaining PPG’s (PPG) former commodity chemicals business using a Reverse Morris Trust. The trend of using Reverse Morris Trusts to ‘sell’ divisions has been previously reported by Stock Spinoffs here. In the transaction, PPG created a short-lived spinoff, Eagle Spinco, and allowed… Read More »
M&A is back. Last week witnessed the return of some rather large deals including the $11b US Airways (LCC) takeover of AMR (AAMRQ), parent of American Airlines. The deal is expected to close later this year and you can click here for more details on the transaction. One of the many issues which remain to be sorted out… Read More »
Ever since its IPO, we have thought Demand Media(DMD) to be a strange beast- a content farm with a domain registration business bolted on. Well, the company announced today that it will be loosening those bolts and spinning off the domain registration business to shareholders. The company hopes to complete the spin in the next nine to twelve… Read More »
13F season is always fun as it provides a rare (albeit delayed) glimpse into the thinking of large money managers and hedge funds. Of course, due to the significant time lag (~45 days), the exclusion of certain securities (shorts, derivatives etc.) and varying investment strategies and holding periods, the usefulness of such data is…questionable in many cases. Not… Read More »
Some more spinoff news from the current earnings season. Dean Foods (DF) reported disappointing Q4 numbers, but buried within the press release were plans for its ~86% stake in the WhiteWave Foods Company (WWAV). Dean plans on spinning off a chunk of those shares to shareholders in a tax free transaction after its lockup period expires, likely at… Read More »
Time Warner(TWX) is no stranger to spinoffs. The company once known as AOL Time Warner lost the AOL(AOL) in what has proven to be a successful spin- much more successful, certainly, than the disastrous merger, perhaps the worst in American history, which brought the two firms together. Earlier in 2009, the company spun off Time Warner Cable(TWC). And… Read More »
Earnings season is always chock full of spinoff news. Valero (VLO) recently provided updates on its upcoming retail segment spinoff during its Q4 conference call and during a presentation at the Credit Suisse Energy Summit. PDF versions of the transcript & presentation can be found here. The new company, CST Brands, operates ~1,900 retail fuel and merchandise sites… Read More »
Leucadia (LUK) is one of those low key companies which has done a superb job for shareholders. The company has grown Book Value per share at an 18.5% CAGR and shareholder equity at over 19% since 1979. Not bad. No fancy homepage for this company, instead the spartan website offers up some links to the company’s SEC filings… Read More »
Seacor Holdings (CKH) announced that it had successfully completed the spinoff of Era Group (ERA) which began trading on the NYSE on Friday under the ticker ‘ERA’. Shareholders should have received 1 share of ERA for every share of Seacor owned. ERA was well received and closed up ~6% on the day. For a fuller writeup on the… Read More »
Pfizer (PFE) generated a lot of buzz last year when it announced it was considering strategic options for several of its units. Its nutrition business has since been sold to Nestle for over $11b in cash and this week will bring about the IPO carve out of its animal health division, now known as Zoetis. The animal health… Read More »
We recently highlighted an increasingly tense standoff between Agrium (AGU) and its largest shareholder, activist hedge fund Jana Partners. The situation has evolved since then, but in short, Jana is pushing for the company to spin off its retail unit into an independent company in order to unlock significant shareholder value. The company has resisted the move and Jana is… Read More »
Woke up this morning to see that Furiex Pharmaceuticals (FURX) was up close to 50% (!) in pre-market trading. The company confirmed that its commercial partner, Takeda Pharmaceutical, had received FDA approval for three Type 2 Diabetes therapies. Several of these had already been approved in Japan with Furiex receiving royalties. In addition to unlocking a $25m milestone… Read More »
In late November, the board of directors at Siemens (SI) approved a plan calling for a shareholder vote on a potential spinoff of its lighting unit, Osram, at the upcoming Annual Meeting in January. Well…January is here and shareholders overwhelmingly approved the measure at yesterday’s meeting, with ~98% of the votes cast agreeing to the move. Shareholders of… Read More »