It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Barnes & Noble(BKS) is struggling. Its stores, with their high fixed costs and high prices, have difficulty competing with online-only Amazon(AMZN). Despite years to improve its website, shopping at bn.com is still a sterile experience that leaves even ardent bibliophiles like us cold(and prices are consistently higher than Amazon’s).… Read More »
Tyco (TYC), a champion spinner with a set of twins of its own in the pipeline, is about to become a grandfather. Covidien (COV), a 2007 spinoff from Tyco, recently announced plansto spin off its pharmaceuticals business into a standalone company. Five is truly a wonderful age to become a parent. Many had predicted some type of transaction… Read More »
WPX Energy(WPX) began trading regular way today following its spin off from Williams(WMB). The company issued a press release to mark the occasion Shares of WPX Energy will begin trading “regular way” on the New York Stock Exchange today following a successful spinoff from Williams that concluded on Dec. 31. WPX Energy is an… Read More »
Orchard Supply Hardware Common(OSH) and preferred(OSHSP) began trading this morning, following their spinoff from Sears Holdings(SHLD). The newly independent company issued a press release to mark the occasion: Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corporation, a specialty retailer serving homeowners with repair, maintenance and improvement needs, announced that its spin-off from Sears Holdings Corporation was completed at… Read More »
Our friends over at My Investing Notebook recently dug up Ralcorp’s(RAH) comments from its 2007 acquisition of Post Cereals, and compared them to its comments regarding this month’s spin off of Post(POST) as an independent company. We were salivating to buy the stock based on the mouth-watering descriptions of future profits to be had as a result of… both… Read More »
NovaGold(NG) has a great story. It owns a 50% interest in the Donlin Gold project in Alaska, which a recent feasibility study projects can average 1.5 million ounces of production at $409/oz for the first 5 years, as well as two other major prospects. It has a market cap of over $2 billion. It counts George Soros, John… Read More »
Sears Holdings(SHLD) issued a press release this morning announcing the completion of the Orchard Supply Hardware(OSH) spinoff. Sears Holdings Corporation (“Holdings,” “we” or “our”) today announced that it has completed its previously announced spin-off of its interest in Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corporation (“Orchard”). Orchard is now independent from Holdings and its Class A Common Stock will begin… Read More »
Rouse(RSE) began trading on a when issued basis today in anticipation of its spin off next month from General Growth Properties(GGP). The stock, which opened at 14, moved steadily downward and closed the day at 12 on 55,819 shares traded. This represents a significant discount to book value and is below the $15/share, $200 million post-spin rights offering… Read More »
As the spinoff bubble continues to inflate, we come across deals that are more and more ridiculous. Today, we bring you Infrax Systems(IFXY), which will soon be spinning off Lockwood Technologies. This dust mite of a company has a market cap of under $500,000, making ArrayIt, last week’s tiniest find, look like a behemoth. In April 2011, Infrax,… Read More »
When WPX Energy(WPX)is spun off from The Williams Companies(WMB) on December 31 as we discussed previously, it will immediately join the S&P 500, replacing Compuware(CPWR). Parent company The Williams Companies will remain in the index as well. This continues a trend of large companies breaking into pieces large enough to themselves be constituents of the premier large cap… Read More »
Alexei Mordashov, who owns 82% of Severstal, is the second-richest man in Russia, and he still dreams of being the richest. Towards that end, Severstal announceda convoluted plan to spin off its Nord Gold unit. Severstal had previously hoped to float the unit in London, but pulled the plan when it became clear that the valuation would be… Read More »
We wrote briefly about Swire Pacific’s upcoming spin off of Swire Properties, but didn’t reference Swire’s comprehensive announcement. The record date for the conditional dividend will be January 6, 2012, with distribution in February. Overseas shareholders(non-Hong Kong) will have their shares in the new firm sold and receive cash instead. The distribution is conditional on receiving listing approval,… Read More »
Addressing earlier rumors, LG Chem, South Korea’s largest chemicals company, announced that it has no plans to spin off its battery unit, but will instead “strengthen” management, Reuters reports. Related articles LG Chem says considers battery plants in China, Europe (reuters.com) LG Chem Earnings Beat Estimates (online.wsj.com)
It’s been nearly 6 months since Ralcorp(RAH) announced plans to spin off Post Holdings and not much has changed. The interest that had been expressed by Conagra(CAG) never materialized into a transaction as Ralcorp management continued to reject buyout offers. Today, the company took the mildly unusual step of issuing a press release noting that it has amended… Read More »
We’ve previously discussed the Conoco Phillips(COP) split here and here. James Shell posts at Seeking Alpha his case for buying Conoco Phillips this week. Shell projects that the companies trade at a 5% discount as a result of being combined. Is that enough to justify the split? Does the trend to dismantle vertically integrated oil companies make sense,… Read More »