In January, under pressure from Elliott Management, Marathon Petroleum(MPC) announced a formal review of the company’s strategic options for its Speedway business. At the time, it seemed that a spinoff was both Elliott’s goal and a likely outcome of the review process. After all, the industry has seen several petroleum companies spin off their convenience store divisions. Marathon… Read More »
Someone sure was busy during the Holidays. On the very first trading day of the new year, Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) announced a number of strategic updates, most of them suggested (and naturally approved) by activist fund Elliott Management. While most of the news was related to its ownership of MPLX (MPLX and worthy of its own post), there was… Read More »
We didn’t really cover this saga, but last year Hess Corporation (HES) was embroiled in a heated proxy battle with Paul Singer’s Elliott Management. The fund argued (and put together a nice presentation) that the company was poorly managed, had lousy governance (too many cronies on the board) and was undervalued on a sum of the parts basis.… Read More »
It’s tough to be a CEO or board member these days. It used to be so easy, but now those pesky shareholders cause too many headaches. ‘Say on Pay’? What? Do they think they own the company or something? The only thing worse are those so called ‘activist’ shareholders, pushing to create ‘value’ or profits in their pockets.… Read More »
On a recent edition of his CNBC show, Mad Money, Jim Cramer, who, it seems, has an opinion on everything, opined on the prospects for ConocoPhillips(COP) and its new progeny, Phillips 66(PSX). Mr. Cramer compared the spin to last year’s similar transaction involving Marathon Oil(MRO), briefly analyzed the two parts, and concluded that the gains have already been… 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 »
ConocoPhillips(COP), one of the world’s six “supermajor” oil companies has decided that the benefits to vertical integration are not all they’re cracked up to be. The company announced today that it will be spinning off its refining business in the first half of 2012, leaving it as a pure-play exploration and production business. At the time of the… Read More »
Image via Wikipedia Another day, another spinoff. Marathon Oil (MRO) announced today that its Board of Directors has approved spinning off its downstream operations. The new company will be called the Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC – also its expected ticker) and will be one of the largest refiners in the United States with assets concentrated mainly in the… Read More »