Mergers, Acquisitions , Splits & Spinoffs.......

[The Virginian]

July 9 (Reuters) - Campbell Soup Co plans to buy Bolthouse Farms for $1.55 billion in cash, adding refrigerated juices and baby carrots to its portfolio of shelf-stable soups and V8 vegetable drinks.

The deal is the latest example of packaged food and beverage companies expanding into healthier products. PepsiCo said Monday it will start selling yogurt in the United States this summer through a joint venture.

Campbell shares were down nearly 1 percent on Monday, underperforming the larger stock market, as some investors saw the price tag too high given limited cost-savings opportunities.

"Though we think Bolthouse is a solid brand, we believe Campbell paid a steep price for the business," said JP Morgan analyst Ken Goldman. Goldman said cost savings opportunities will be minimal as no factories are slated to close.

Campbell said on Monday that it was paying a multiple of 9.5 times adjusted operating earnings for Bolthouse, which will allow it to expand into the market for packaged fresh foods, an area that is growing faster than packaged food overall.

Campbell's current portfolio is mostly shelf-stable products like Campbell Soup and Pepperidge Farm cookies.

Chief Executive Denise Morrison said Bolthouse Farms came onto Campbell's radar screen about three years ago, but the company was not for sale then.

Campbell plans to run Bolthouse as a separate business unit. Bolthouse President and Chief Executive Jeff Dunn, a veteran of Coca-Cola Co, will remain with the company.

Morrison said the Bolthouse acquisition will not "in any way, shape or form preempt or delay" the company's pursuit of other acquisitions in other markets.

[The Virginian]

** Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants Inc said it agreed to buy bar and grill restaurant operator Yard House USA Inc for $585 million in cash, a deal that will give it access to younger and more affluent diners.

Never heard of Yard House - Maybe because I'm not "young and affluent" ;D

[The Virginian]

Reuters) - Private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC is considering a bid for textbook publisher McGraw-Hill Education, which is being spun off by McGraw-Hill Cos Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Apollo's team includes Peter Davis, who was president of McGraw-Hill's publishing unit from 2008 to 2010, the newspaper said.

The report, citing an executive familiar with the education business, said a sale of the textbook publishing division could fetch between $2.8 billion and $3.8 billion, though McGraw-Hill may seek $4 billion or more.

McGraw-Hill, which owns Standard & Poor's credit rating agency, outlined plans last September to divide itself into a markets data company and an education company for textbook publishing, following investor pressure.

McGraw-Hill said on Wednesday it remains on track to create the two companies by the end of the year.

Traditional book publishers are facing reduced spending by cash-strapped state and local governments, as well as increased competition from published material available online.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers Inc, whose textbooks have been used in American schools for decades, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May. The company received court approval to exit bankruptcy last month.

[ModE98]

Yep, the times are forever changin' .... what comes next.... classroom Kindles, and.....

R.R. Donnelly & Sons Co. (RRD) has been rapidly diversifying into electronic media resources from the basic printing business. Just bought Edgar On-Line as its latest. I think it has seen its bottom (unless the mkt crashes) and may have a new growth outlook. High dividend may be at some risk of trimming. Holding a modest amount.

[The Virginian]

(Reuters) - Comcast Corp, the parent company of NBC, has bought out Microsoft Corp's 50 percent stake in MSNBC.com for a reported $300 million to assume full control of the news website.

"Today we're taking on a new name - NBCNews.com. While our name is changing, our commitment is not," Jennifer Sizemore, editor-in-chief of NBCNews.com, said in a letter posted on the company's website.

The New York Times reported the transaction was valued at $300 million, a part of which comes from the joint venture's past profits, citing people with knowledge of the deal.

NBC and Microsoft joined forces in 1996 to create a cable news channel and online news operation that melded broadcasting with then-emerging internet technology. Microsoft has since exited the cable venture.

The news of a possible website deal was first reported in May.

Comcast and Microsoft could not immediately be reached for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

Microsoft shares closed at $29.39 on the Nasdaq on Friday. Comcast shares closed at $31.87 on the Nasdaq.

[Deleted]

LLL (Level 3) did a spinoff of a division. Shareholders got 1 share of the new Standalone company for every 6 shares of LLL they owned. The new Company ENGILITY is now "live" trading under the symbol EGL.

I didn't even know this was happening, just woke up went into the Portfolio and SUPRISE there was a New Stock.

[Deleted]

Big News out from PPG Industries and Georgia Gulf Yesterday.

PPG and Georgia Gulf are pairing up. PPG is going to Spin-off/Split-off it's specialty chemical business and then Immediately Merge with Georgia Gulf or a Georgia Gulf Subsidiary, in a Reverse Morris Trust Action.
From the Way it sounds, Share holders of PPG will get shares in Both Georgia Gulf and the New as yet to be named Company that The Reverse Morris Trust action forms.

For the Full Press release go here -

www.ppg.com/en/newsroom/news/Pages/20120719A.aspx

This is just part of the reason for the HUGE jump in PPG Share Price Yesterday. For more info on that also see the Dividend Investing thread and the Long Term Investor thread.

[The Virginian]

Reuters) - U.S. railroad operator Genesee & Wyoming Inc said it will buy rival RailAmerica for $1.39 billion in cash.

Genesee offered $27.50 per share for RailAmerica - a premium of about 11 percent to the stock's Friday close.

[The Virginian]

RUN Money RUN! ;D

Reuters) - U.S. department store chain J.C. Penney Co Inc said on Monday that it sold a portion of its stake in a Simon Property Group Inc unit to raise $248 million in cash.

Last year, Penney had decided "it was necessary to review and, where appropriate, monetize assets that are not core to our operations," Chief Financial Officer Ken Hannah said. "Today's announcement represents the first step toward executing this plan."

The news came just months after Penney said that same-store sales during the first three months of a new pricing model fell a far worse-than-expected 18.9 percent. It also posted a large net loss and cut its dividend.

Following the deal, JCP Realty Inc, a unit of the department store chain, continues to hold about 205,000 limited partnership units in Simon's operating partnership.

Simon is the largest owner of U.S. malls and outlet centers.

JPMorgan Securities LLC acted as an adviser for this deal, Penney said in a statement.

[Deleted]

This is a bit late but, CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) completed it's 5-1 Split on Monday.

[The Virginian]

NEW YORK/BRUSSELS, July 27 (Reuters) - Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group has offered to sell the bulk of EMI Music's most valuable record label, Parlophone, to try to get EU clearance for its planned $1.9 billion buyout of EMI, three sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Putting Parlophone forward is a much bigger concession than previously mooted to appease the European Commission, which has warned Universal its plan to buy EMI's recorded music business would hurt competition in a signal of a possible veto.

One of EMI's most prized assets, Parlophone has stars such as Coldplay and marquee acts such as Queen. It also has The Beatles, but one source said Universal wanted to keep its rights to one of the biggest selling bands of all time.

Universal, the world's largest recorded music company, submitted its proposals to the EU antitrust watchdog on Friday.

"We look forward to working further with the Commission and are confident of receiving clearance," a statement said.

EU competition policy spokesman Antoine Colombani confirmed the regulator had received the proposal. Neither New York-based Universal nor the Commission gave details of the proposed concessions.

One of the sources said the package consisted of Parlophone but excluding The Beatles, the Chrysalis label without Robbie Williams, EMI Classics, EMI France, EMI Norway, EMI Sweden, EMI Poland, EMI Czech Republic, Jazzland in Norway, German jazz label MPS Records, and the Mute and Sanctuary brands.

[Driftr]

Aug 13, 2012 8:05:45 GMT -5 The Virginian said:

NEW YORK (AP) — Sears is preparing to spin off its Hometown and Outlet stores as well as some hardware stores into a separate publicly traded company.

The news sent the company's stock up $2.58, or 5 percent, to $54 in premarket trading Monday.

Sears had signaled that it would split the companies back in February. There are a total of 1,238 Hometown, Outlet and hardware stores as of April 28, according to Sears, which is trying to turn around its business and spruce up its image. It has already closed five Hometown stores, eight hardware stores and one Outlet store.

Sears, which also owns Kmart, has looked at spinoffs and real estate sales to restore profitability and boost shareholder confidence. Aside from the separation of the Hometown, Outlet and some hardware stores, the company announced in May that it would spin off a stake in its Canada division.

Sears did not disclose Monday in the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission how much money it expects to raise with the spin-off of the Hometown, Outlet and hardware stores. It previously said that it expected the deal to raise between $400 million and $500 million.

Sears Chairman Edward Lampert's ESL Investments Inc. will own a majority stake in the business being spun off.

For fiscal 2011, the combined Sears Hometown, hardware and Outlet businesses had net income of $33.1 million on sales of about $2.34 billion. That compares with fiscal 2010 net income of $49.8 million on sales of approximately $2.35 billion.

Sears Holdings Corp., based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., is set to report its second-quarter earnings Thursday.

The new company will be listed on the Nasdaq under the "SHOS" ticker symbol.

Move to mergers/acquisitions/spinoffs thread?

[The Virginian]

oops!

[The Virginian]

No more posting until I have my morning coffee! ;D

[Deleted]

Coca Cola Did their Split - 2 For 1 as of Open Business Monday.

[The Virginian]

Coca Cola Did their Split - 2 For 1 as of Open Business Monday.

Horray! Now if someone could talk IBM into doing a split - Maybe 10-1?

[Deleted]

Now That would be something. But it would also be sort of out of character for that conservative board of directors..

[ModE98]

Found this a bit interesting....
Berkshire exits Intel after just nine months. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) had an unusually active quarter in Q2, which included selling its 7.7M Intel (INTC) shares just nine months after buying into the chipmaker. Berkshire also significantly reduced its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Kraft (KFT) and Procter & Gamble (PG), while buying into Phillips 66 (PSX) and National Oilwell Varco (NOV

[The Virginian]

I know it's dangerous to be a contrarian to Warren Buffet but I own all of the above and I have no plans to sell.

I didn't agree with his purchase of all the newspapers either - so is he losing it or am I just plain ole clueless?

[ModE98]

Nah, Mr. V, you are cool. It may be a clue that oil/gas energy stock is becoming interesting.
Just because Warren trims some holdings, does not indicate anyone else should. Stick with one's own convictions.

[Driftr]

I think Warren is probably out there looking for bargains V. You and I are probably looking for more stability.

[Deleted]

Aug 15, 2012 7:14:24 GMT -5 ModE98 said:

Found this a bit interesting....
Berkshire exits Intel after just nine months. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) had an unusually active quarter in Q2, which included selling its 7.7M Intel (INTC) shares just nine months after buying into the chipmaker. Berkshire also significantly reduced its holdings in Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Kraft (KFT) and Procter & Gamble (PG), while buying into Phillips 66 (PSX) and National Oilwell Varco (NOV

Warren has NEVER liked tech

He knows companies have to spend gobs of money to keep r&d going....and they are notoriously low dividend payers

I was surprised he bought it in the first place

But his buying of oil companies makes me wonder where he sees oil prices in 12/18 months

[Deleted]

You Know I read somewhere that someone is working with a New process to turn "sour gas" Better know as H2s (Hydrogen Sulfide) which Drillers hate due to the fact it is Highly Explosive and Deadly (Hence the fact every Drilling Rig has an H2s Alarm and when it goes off they evacuate the Rig) Into something which is very usable.
Now to what purpose I don't know. But if it could be converted and used safely, that would be Big..

[The Virginian]

Aug 16 (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp has agreed to buy privately held Texas Memory Systems, a high-end enterprise storage technology provider, to expand its own storage offerings, IBM said on Thursday.

Armonk, New York-based IBM did not disclose the terms of the deal with Texas Memory, which employs about 100 people. The deal is expected to close later this year, IBM said.

Texas Memory told Reuters in December that it was looking to be bought by a bigger company so it could take advantage of a bigger sales force to sell its products to corporate customers.

[The Virginian]

General Motors Co, partly owned by the U.S. Treasury, is seeking to buy international operations from auto lender Ally Financial, which ironically wants to use the proceeds to help repay its own federal bailout aid.

[Driftr]

Isn't Ally Financial the replacement for GMAC? Makes sense to stick those two pigs back together again.

[The Virginian]

Yes, Ally was GMAC ( General Motors Acceptance Corporation) way back when. The government took them over and renamed them.

[Driftr]

Aug 17, 2012 10:56:04 GMT -5 The Virginian said:

Yes, Ally was GMAC ( General Motors Acceptance Corporation) way back when. The government took them over and renamed them.

2010 is now way back when? :-)

[The Virginian]

I have trouble remembering last week so yes, for me, it was way back! ;D

[Deleted]

LOL @ The Virginian..Too good my friend, too good... Soo, 2005 would be Ancient times and 1995 would be the days of the caveman?

(J/K, just ribbing)