Barington Urges Victoria’s Secret To Uncover Value, Show How Bath & Body Works

Is breaking up retail conglomerates about to become a trend? Last week, Gap(GPS) announced the planned spinoff of its Old Navy brand. Now, Barington Capital is urging L Brands(LB), parent of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, to spinoff one of the two brands. Barington has a history of activism and last appeared in these pages when… Read More »

Air Products Spinoff Versum Is The Subject Of Intense Bidding War

Dearest Readers, we have a confession to make. We fell short of the sacred trust you have placed in us, and were, somehow remiss. You see, it seems, that other than to mention an index change, we never discussed Air Products and Chemicals (APD) October 2016 spinoff of Versum Materials (VSM). We apologize profusely for this breach and… Read More »

Spinoff Odds & Ends: Updating M&A situations at $NAVI and $GCI

Update on M&A Canyon Capital offered $12/share to acquire student loan processor Navient (NAVI), but the student loan servicing company’s management forcefully and publicly rejected the proposal. Basically, management felt the offer undervalued the company and want a bid more in the $14-15 range. Canyon was apparently surprised by the hostile tone since the offer represented a significant premium… Read More »

It’s Anchors Aweigh For Old Navy As Struggling Gap Plans To Toss It Overboard

This summer will mark the 50th anniversary of Don Fisher opening the first Gap(GPS) store in San Francisco. That initial store opened just days after Woodstock and a month after Neil Armstrong took his small step and, it initially sold only Levi’s jeans and records. Fisher’s concept was that his store would always have every size in stock… Read More »

Wabtec Ready To Roll After GE Transportation Merger

Wabtec(WAB) was excited to announce this that it had completed its merger with GE Transportation, immediately following GE Transportation’s spinoff from GE(GE).  GE shareholders will see small amounts of Wabtec in their portfolios. The final ratio is a bit lower than what had been estimated. For each share of GE stock owned, shareholders received 0.005371 shares of Wabtec stock,… Read More »

The Incredible Shrinking GE Turns Biopharma Into Danaher Cash

On the day it finalizes its spinoff of GE Transportation and merges it with Wabtec(WAB), GE(GE) announces an even larger divestiture, selling off its Biopharma unit to Danaher(DHR) for $21 billion in cash. Danaher will also take on $400 million in pension liabilities. GE CEO Larry Culp, former CEO of Danaher has taken another major step in shrinking… Read More »

Post GE Transportation Merger, Wabtec To Join S&P 500, Barron’s Is A Fan, But Could Labor Unrest Derail Wabtec Stock?

There’s a lot of news to report as GE(GE) completes its spinoff of GE Transportation on Monday, February 25 and merges it with Wabtec(WAB) immediately thereafter.  As we theorized last week, the bulked-up Wabtec will be added to the S&P 500, replacing Goodyear Tire(GT). Goodyear will take Wabtec’s place in the S&P MidCap 400, making this a neat… Read More »

What Happened To Bioverativ Stock? A Short-Lived Spinoff Yielded Big Profit For Shareholders

From its spinoff from Biogen(BIIB) in February 2017 to the closing of its acquisition by Sanofi(SNY) in March 2018, Bioverativ’s tenure as a public company was short but profitable. From an initial price of $44.98 to the sale price of $105 in cash, Bioverativ stock, trading under the symbol BIVV, increased 133%. Not bad for 13 months.  We… Read More »

After Failed Sale, Arconic Plans Spinoff, But Not Quite Sure Of What It Will Spin Off

Last month, Arconic(ARNC) announced suddenly that it had failed to find a buyer willing to pay enough for the whole company and was ending the sale process.  Now, it is trying a different approach, announcing that it plans to spin off one of two businesses:  Engineered Products & Forgings or Global Rolled Products. It will also attempt to sell… Read More »

GE Transportation Spinoff And Merger With Wabtec Set, GE Shareholders Won’t See Much In Their Portfolios

GE (GE) is set to close the restructured merger agreement for its transportation business with Wabtec (WAB) on February 25th. As a result, the 25th will also be the distribution date for GE’s transportation business spin off which will be immediately merged into Wabtec. The end result will be a more vertically integrated freight car business that is… Read More »