Search results for M & A
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Posted
Sep 29 2009, 11:40 AM
by
Jim Jubak
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 The stock market got all excited Monday by big acquisitions announced by Xerox (XRX) and Abbott Laboratories (ABT).
Xerox announced that it would buy Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) for $6.4 billion in cash and stock and Abbott said it would buy the drugs business of Solvay (SVYSY) for $6.6 billion in cash.
That news helped stocks reverse recent weakness: The Standard & Poor's 500 closed up 1.8% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.3%. The two deals came after news of acquisitions like Dell's (DELL) $3.9-billion cash offer for Perot Systems (PER).
Now, I can understand why the market as a whole would get excited at the news. Mergers and acquisitions push up stock prices. Dell, for example, has offered a 70% premium to buy Perot Systems.
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Posted
Feb 10 2009, 11:21 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
A merger between Ticketmaster (TKTM) and Live Nation (LYV) would create a massive conglomerate controlling the live music industry in this country. Investors aren't happy and concertgoers are wary.
Shares of both companies fell after news that Live Nation wants to buy Ticketmaster for $400 million in stock. That's mostly because of concerns that antitrust regulators are going to spike the deal like a Super Bowl football. Already, lawmakers and artists are signaling their opposition, and investors are worried that the Obama administration might do the same.
This merger "would give a giant, new entity unrivaled power over concertgoers and the prices they pay to see their favorite artists and bands," said Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer.
And from what I can tell, he's probably right.
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Posted
Jan 23 2009, 04:19 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Companies, even really big ones with hundreds of thousands of employees, can only fire so many people. At some point, core functions like accounting and marketing need enough personnel to keep operations running. The layoff machine runs out of fuel.
Pfizer (PFE) has already fired thousands of people. Most recently, it cut 800 researchers and 2,400 sales personnel. The drug firm probably would have been more brutal if it could have been.
Pfizer is now in merger negotiations with its one of its big pharm peers, Wyeth (WYE). The transaction would be done as a $60 billion buyout of Wyeth. According to The Wall Street Journal, the deal "could create billions in cost savings through the combination of back-office operations, research and development, sales and manufacturing."
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Posted
Jan 22 2009, 07:56 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Chrysler's short stint as an independent company is ending as it enters a deal to be taken over by Italy's Fiat (IT:F) for just $25 million. Consummation depends upon an additional $3 billion loan from the U.S. Treasury -- for a total of $8.5 billion -- and Fiat's ability to improve operations at Chrysler.
In the interim, Fiat will get three seats on Chrysler's seven-seat board, help from its dealer network and production space in its manufacturing plants. Chrysler will get Fiat's small-car technology and access to its international dealerships.
At first blush, it appears the American taxpayers are getting a lousy deal. But remember that the intention was never to generate great profit for government coffers but to save jobs and protect an iconic American company. With that goal in mind, Fiat's proposal could work beautifully.
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Posted
Oct 21 2008, 12:35 PM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Banks, it appears, may finally be tired of losing money.
The $700 billion bailout plan rushed through Congress was aimed at shoring up the American financial system, providing banks with capital that they could then blithely begin lending again. The law of unintended consequences -- already familiar to us following the recent spate of unprecedented government intervention -- is once again rearing its unsightly head.
The Wall Street Journal reports that, rather than extending credit to embattled American consumers, banks may use recently allocated taxpayer funds to gobble up competitors. Zions and BB&T are eager to go shopping for attractively priced banks, and are considering accepting government funds to do so.
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Posted
Oct 13 2008, 09:13 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
A collective sigh of relief just went up in the narrow boulevards of lower Manhattan -- and it’s not just because the Federal Reserve said it will lend out unlimited amounts of dollars to help prop up the global financial system: Morgan Stanley managed to secure its capital infusion from Japan’s largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
Just weeks ago, when the transaction was first announced, Mistubishi’s agreed to hand over $9 billion for a 20% stake in the storied Wall Street firm. But during the market’s train wreck last week, shares of Morgan Stanley sunk below $7 on concerns the deal would be derailed.
At those levels, the Japanese bank could have picked up the entire firm for less than the proposed injection.
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Posted
Oct 07 2008, 11:09 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Last week, by its own account, Wachovia was a breath away from failing. Today, two of the four biggest banks in the country are literally suing each other for the right to buy the troubled Charlotte-based lender.
As I write this morning, Wachovia's fate is unknown. Whether that will be the case by lunchtime is anyone's guess.
By all accounts, Wells Fargo's bid makes more sense, it being the far stronger firm and eschewing the FDIC's involvement in the transaction. Citigroup, however, has yet to capitalize on the bank firesale its competitors are taking advantage of, and it doesn't want to miss the party.
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Posted
Jun 27 2008, 07:37 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Since InBev launched its audacious $46 billion offer for Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch, investors, analysts, and proud American beer drinkers have all been awaiting word from the executive suite in St. Louis: What's it going to be, yay or nay to the Brazilian-led but Belgian-owned predator?
Yesterday, in a scathing rebuke, CEO August Busch IV didn’t just say no but made an impassioned call to arms. He called the unsolicited offer "financially inadequate" and not in the best interests of shareholders. He touted management's efforts to boost shareholder value through its Blue Ocean cost-reduction program. He stressed the brewer's global footprint. He flaunted Anheuser's renowned brand-building abilities and the power of the Budweiser and Bud Light brands. He even made it personal and told InBev CEO Carlos Brito to take his money and his big dreams elsewhere.
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Posted
Jun 25 2008, 09:15 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
For Circuit City and its investors, the last couple years have been nothing but torture. Witness the epic share-price decline of nearly 90% over the past two years. Witness the glimmer of hope brought about by Blockbuster's proposed takeover offer in April, which is backed by Carl Icahn, only to see the market severely discount any chance of it happening. Witness yesterday's anticlimactic shareholders meeting where the biggest news was that activist investor Mark Wattles compared corporate due diligence to canine mating rituals.
Although things are dour, they aren't lacking in excitement: Shares in both Circuit City and Blockbuster have been wildly volatile in heavy trading as investors set the odds and outcomes of a possible pairing of the two struggling brands.
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Posted
Jun 23 2008, 06:59 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
InBev's $46 billion cash offer for Anheuser-Busch is turning into a global economic nightmare for those proud of their Great American Lager. It's bad enough that a Belgian brewer run by a bunch of Brazilians is trying to buyout the last of the great U.S. beer makers -- this after Miller was made South African in 2002 and Coors became part-Canadian in 2004.
But now, fate has it that the best hope for keeping Anheuser free from the clutches of foreigners rests with the Fernandez family, controllers of Grupo Modelo, the Mexican brewery famous for Corona.
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