General Electric(GE) announced the results of its exchange offer for Synchrony Financial(SYF) common stock this morning. The exchange, which ended last night at midnight, was oversubscribed by 3.2 times, with “2,149,128,195 shares of GE common stock were validly tendered and not validly withdrawn.” The company will “accept 671,366,809 of the tendered shares in exchange for the 705,270,833 shares… Read More »
Last night, GE(GE) set the final ratio for its exchange offer at 1.0505 shares of Synchrony(SYF) common stock for each share of GE tendered. At GE’s closing price on Thursday of $30.16 and Synchrony’s close of $30.79, this represents $32.34 worth of Synchrony stock, or a premium of 7.2%. GE shareholders have until midnight, Monday night, November 16… Read More »
The question of whether to exchange their GE(GE) stock to receive Synchrony Financial(SYF) at a 7% discount is a question weighing heavily on the minds of many GE shareholders. One investor decided to Ask Matt what to do. Who is Matt? Apparently, Matt is “USA TODAY markets reporter Matt Krantz [who] answers a different reader question every weekday.”… Read More »
The Federal Reserve formally approved Synchrony Financial’s (SYF) application to become a publicly traded savings & loan holding company. The approval is a key regulatory milestone for the company and its completion will pave the way for GE (GE) to finish separating the business via exchange offer. As its recent earnings report highlighted, GE has shifted its focus… Read More »
A few links to settle back in after the long Labor Day weekend: Spinoffs are all the rage and conglomerates are dropping like flies. While GE (GE) and others are currently slimming down, the WSJ notes that Honeywell (HON) is the rare outperforming conglomerate that is actually being cheered for its diversified position. Whether that remains the case… Read More »
Shareholders heading to Winston-Salem yesterday for B/E Aerospace’s (BEAV) annual meeting were likely very disappointed (or worse) to hear that the meeting had been cancelled the day before. The company opted to postpone its annual gathering after issuing a press release stating that the company was engaged in a ‘Process to Explore Strategic Alternatives’. Hopefully the fact that… Read More »
General Electric(GE) is the prototypical conglomerate. It is welll known for its turbines, its locomotives, its jet engines, and its finance division. Chastened by the financial crisis which GE entered as a finance company with some industrial assets attached, CEO Jeff Immelt has been on a multiyear mission to shift the company’s focus back to its industrial operations.… Read More »
Activist investors appear to be back and are once again using their clout to influence corporate decision making. Occasionally, this can lead to a spinoff such as the case with Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square and Fortune Brands (FO) or Carl Icahn and Motorola. Of course, not every company is looking for outside ‘advice’. Consider the recent news regarding… Read More »