What do you do when your letters and pleas get ignored? Turn them into a presentation of course because pictures and charts are just so much harder to ignore. That seems to be superstar hedge fund manager John Paulson’s approach for turning up the heat on Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG). After having no success writing letters to… Read More »
Activism is alive and well these days. A little while ago, we noted that Barnes & Noble (BKS) was considering its options for its cash burning yet growing Nook business. It seems the company wasn’t alone in that thinking and is now being publicly egged on by Michael Glickstein, CIO of G Asset Management and one of BKS’… Read More »
Who says you have to be a mega-conglomerate in order to pursue a spinoff? Galena Biopharma (GALE), a $46m market cap biotech company, announced that it will spin off RXi Pharmaceutical via stock dividend sometime in the coming months. While the board has not set a final payment date, the date of record will be March 8, 2012… Read More »
Came across a note in Barron’s this weekend that Furiex Pharmaceuticals (FURX) CEO Fredric Eshelman upped his stake in the company by 17,359 shares to a total representing ~12.1% ~21.1% of the company. In case you don’t remember, Furiex was spun out around the time of our site’s launch and we noted some bullish followers of the stock.… Read More »
NovaGold (NG) recently provided an update on its planned spinoff of its Northern Alaska Ambler copper deposits. Since that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, the new company will be known as NovaCopper. Click here for our earlier article on this topic. Shareholders of NovaGold will receive 1 share of NovaCopper for every 6 shares of NovaGold owned. More… Read More »
Listening to (or reading) company conference calls are a necessary but often painful part of investing. Calls are usually filled with a bunch of numbers, some CEO speak and suck-up analysts (if the company is doing well) so anything out of the ordinary or even somewhat controversial becomes noteworthy. Throw in ‘legendary’ fund manager John Paulson and now… Read More »
Ah, to be an activist investor. Push around executives, demand ‘shareholder friendly’ measures and all this while maintaining the flexibility of trading in and out of shares. After pushing hard for a breakup, Carl Icahn quickly rang the register on a chunk of his Motorola Mobility (MMI) stake shortly after its takeout announcement. Too much work? John Paulson… Read More »
With both the DOJ and EU regulatory body blessing the transaction, Google’s (GOOG) purchase of spinoff Motorola Mobility (MMI) is finally close to fruition. No small feat given the recent failures of some other large deals such as ATT’s (T) takeout of T-Mobile and the NYX/Deutsche Boerse combo. Motorola’s hefty patent portfolio appears to have been the impetus… Read More »
Not all spinoffs unlock value. For one thing, there has to be something of value there to begin with. Spinoffs can sometimes be a tool in the arsenal of those operating in the underbelly of the stock market, promoting stocks with no real business except selling stock. Take U.S. Rare Earth Minerals(USMN). An impressive name, to be sure,… Read More »
It seems the spinoff bug is even starting to spread a bit into the emerging markets, with Brazil being the latest country to catch the fever. Well…maybe more of a cough or a minor cold. JBS SA (JBSAY), once a potential player in the Sara Lee (SLE) sweepstakes, announced plans to spin off its dairy unit, Vigor Alimentos… Read More »
We came across this gem recently while perusing a transcript of IAC/InterActiveCorp’s(IACI) 4th quarter conference call. Diller is indeed a veteran of many spinoffs, including Expedia(EXPE) and its new progeny, TripAdvisor(TRIP) Ross Sandler – RBC Capital Markets Just two quick questions. Barry on that theme of using the past to kind of look at the future, given the… Read More »
After undergoing a strategic review and failing to find a buyer, Loral Space & Communication (LORL) announced that it is committed to spinning off its Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) segment. SS/L designs, manufactures and integrates satellites and space systems for a wide variety of commercial and government customers. The unit appears to be growing rather nicely over the past… Read More »
Less than a year after being spun out of the Marathon Oil Corporation (MRO), the Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) is pondering a spin of its own. Talk about moving quickly. Egged on by activist investor Jana Partners (who is also ‘prodding’ McGraw-Hill [MHP]), the company is considering setting up an master limited partnership (MLP) for its pipeline business… Read More »
Rouse Properties(RSE) had announced it intended to do a rights offering after its spinoff from General Growth Properties(GGP) was complete. This afternoon, Rouse announced that the offering will be set for the close of business on February 13. Each Right will allow the holder to purchase 0.375094056 shares of stock at a price per share of $15, as… Read More »
Viking Global Investors filed a 13G yesterday, declaring a 6% passive stake in TripAdvisor(TRIP). It appears that the entire stake was purchased quite recently, as former TripAdvisor parent Expedia(EXPE) does not appear in the firm’s most recent 13F-HR, filed on November 14. As far as we can tell, Viking has never filed a 13D to take an active… Read More »