Share This Article

Facebook LinkedIn
Twitter Reddit
Print Email
Pinterest Gmail
Yahoo
Money Morning
×
Login Archives Your Team About Us FAQ
[mmpazkzone name="azk58712-mobile-nav" network="9794" site="307044" id="222451" type="5"]
  • Subscribe
Enter stock ticker or keyword
×
[mmpazkzone name="azk58712-mobile-sticky" network="9794" site="307044" id="222451" type="5"]
Join 100,000+ Like-Minded Investors Today
Twitter

M&A

Article Index

  • U.S. Loses Crown as King of M&A to Emerging Markets
  • Capital Wave Investing: Is it Time to Profit From the Cash-Rich Technology Sector?
  • Teva Pharmaceutical Wins Fight in the Generic Drug Market Battle
  • Prudential-AIG Deal Another Case of Corporate Empire Building
  • Hot Stocks: With its Timely Switch at CEO, Novartis Seems to be Making All the Right Moves
  • Cold Snap Lighting a Fire Under Energy Complex and Agri-Commodities
  • With His Rebuke of Kraft, Buffett Reminds Wall Street That Shareholders Come First
  • Hot Stocks: Apple's Acquisition of Quattro Puts It on a Collision Course with Google
  • Hot Stocks: With Alcon Sold, Will Nestle Try to Outmuscle Kraft in a Bid for Cadbury?
  • How to Make the Most of a Resurgent M&A Market in 2010
  • "Financial Reform" Just Camouflage for Wall Street's Latest Power Play
  • Exxon Deal For XTO Energy May Set Off Wave of Energy Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Property Group Bucks Commercial Real Estate Trend with $2.23 Billion Acquisition
  • With NBC Deal Done, Comcast Becomes the New Cable Juggernaut
  • Kraft Launches Hostile Bid for Cadbury
  • Two Reasons the Dow's Rally to 10,000 Will Keep Moving Ahead

Three Ways to Profit From an Insurance-Sector Rebound

By Jon D. Markman, Contributing Writer, Money Morning - April 1, 2010

Regional banks, investment bankers and insurance companies will be key winners in the next phase of an advance that will be characterized by very lukewarm participation by the average private investor.

Most investors will be surprised by this turnabout - and especially by the insurance-sector rebound.

Let me show you three ways to profit.

To find out what companies will profit from this new trend, read on...

Shareholder Concerns Snag Prudential's $35.5 Billion Deal For AIG's Asian Unit

By Don Miller, Contributing Writer, Money Morning - March 31, 2010

Prudential PLC's (NYSE ADR: PUK) much-ballyhooed buyout of American International Group Inc.'s (NYSE: AIG) Asian insurance-unit - AIA Group Ltd. may be on the rocks as the U.K. insurer's shareholders balk at the price.

The proposed buyout calls for Prudential to hand over $35.5 billion to U.S. government-owned AIG.   But Prudential's biggest investors are resisting the deal because they believe the company is paying an overly rich premium for AIA, according to sources cited by the New York Post.

Additionally, the method of financing the blockbuster deal puts too much pressure on Prudential shareholders to come up with $20 billion in cash through a rights offering.

Read More…

U.S. Loses Crown as King of M&A to Emerging Markets

By Don Miller, Contributing Writer, Money Morning - March 23, 2010

Maybe U.S. investment bankers are losing their touch.

For the first time since Thomson Reuters began keeping track in 1976, fewer merger and acquisition (M&A) deals were done in the United States in the first six weeks of 2010 than in emerging-markets.

During that stretch, emerging markets such as India, Mexico, Brazil and China accounted for 43% of global M&A volume with $91.2 billion worth of deals. That outpaced the United States, which completed roughly $55 billion in deals, accounting for a 29.5% share.

Surprisingly, Mexico alone did more volume, with 19.1% of the market versus Europe's 17.1% share.

Read More…

Capital Wave Investing: Is it Time to Profit From the Cash-Rich Technology Sector?

By Don Miller, Contributing Writer, Money Morning - March 22, 2010

A little more than one year after the economy hit bottom during the Great Recession, American companies are sitting on nearly $1 trillion in cash, a capital wave serving as a call to action for a long-moribund mergers-and-acquisition market.And history shows that a burst of M&A activity can be just what the doctor ordered for a stock-market rally that's looking for a booster shot: After a near-record-breaking rally in the first year of the current bull market, a flurry of dealmaking could be the catalyst that fuels Year Two of the rally - perhaps even pushing stock prices back to, or even past, their previous highs.

As a rule, an increase in M&A activity is a bullish sign for both the economy and the stock market, says Money Morning Contributing Editor Shah Gilani, who tracks deals for his own advisory service, The Capital Wave Forecast. As far as capital waves go, this surge in cash-driven deals is one of the most powerful around, and will have substantial spillover effects.

Read More…

Teva Pharmaceutical Wins Fight in the Generic Drug Market Battle

By Kerri Shannon, Associate Editor, Money Morning - March 19, 2010

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA) will buy sought-after German generic producer Ratiopharm for $4.97 billion, continuing a trend of highly competitive merger-and-acquisition (M&A) activity in the pharmaceutical industry. Competitors have pursued Ratiopharm for nine months because of its position as the second biggest generic producer in Germany. It was put up for sale in […]

Read More…

Prudential-AIG Deal Another Case of Corporate Empire Building

By , Money Morning - March 3, 2010

To inattentive observers, the recent announcement that the British insurance company Prudential PLC (NYSE ADR: PUK) would pay $35.5 billion for American International Group Inc.'s (NYSE: AIG) Asian insurance operation, AIA, might seem like just another belated expansion of the old British Empire - a strange contrast to the sale of the premier British chocolate company Cadbury PLC (NYSE ADR: CBY) to Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) last month.

Yet in reality both deals are examples of Empire-building that for shareholders is much more dangerous than the benign British variety - Empire-building by corporate management that runs contrary to capitalist ideals.

To read more about why the Prudential-AIG deal contradicts capitalism, click here...

Hot Stocks: With its Timely Switch at CEO, Novartis Seems to be Making All the Right Moves

By William Patalon III, Executive Editor, Money Morning - February 4, 2010

The list of former CEOs is a long one, and has grown substantially as a result of the global financial crisis. Investors find it easy to remember such names as John Thain, G. Kennedy Thompson, Charles O. "Chuck" Prince III, James E. "Jimmy" Cayne and E. Stanley "Stan" O'Neal.

Needless to say, the memories aren't always pleasant.

During the past several years, the departure of a company's chief executive was almost always a sign of a company in the midst of a shakeup - and an admission that there was a long list of deeply ingrained problems to solve.

Few of the departures were truly voluntary, and the financial-crisis-induced ousters usually stoked the turmoil: They almost always came at a surprising time, and there was almost never a successor in place who could step in and quell the uncertainty by immediately taking over.

Read More…

Cold Snap Lighting a Fire Under Energy Complex and Agri-Commodities

By Don Miller, Contributing Writer, Money Morning - January 7, 2010

A relentless surge of cold weather is slamming nearly every country in the Northern Hemisphere, disrupting travel, threatening crops and driving energy and commodity prices higher as investors look for ways to cash in.

In the United States, crude oil is trading near a 14-month high. Natural gas and heating oil prices have also surged, as the U.S. shivered under the onslaught of an arctic express that sent temperatures plummeting below zero across two-thirds of the country. Even Florida growers try to protect orange groves from overnight freezing temperatures.

The cold snap is one of the nation's most widespread since January 1985, according to meteorologists at Accuweather.com. While the cold is expected to ease slightly starting Thursday, this winter is on track to be one of the coldest in the past two decades, Ken Reeves, director of forecasting operations at Accuweather told The Wall Street Journal.

Read More…

With His Rebuke of Kraft, Buffett Reminds Wall Street That Shareholders Come First

By , Money Morning - January 7, 2010

A decade ago, investing guru Warren Buffett helped torpedo a $15.3 billion Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) bid for Quaker Oats Cos., arguing that the terms were lousy and the proposed price way too high.

Now Buffet is causing similar complications with a Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) plan to buy Britain's Cadbury PLC (NYSE ADR: CBY), announcing that he's wholly opposed to a plan to issue as many as 370 million Kraft shares to get the deal done. As Kraft's largest shareholder - Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) owns 9.4% of Kraft's common stock - his opinion is likely to carry the day.

Wall Street is furious: Deal fees are not as easy to come by as they used to be, and this transaction promised to be especially juicy - thanks to the spin-offs and share issues Kraft is doing to get the buyout done. Some of those maneuvers won't now be necessary, and if the transaction does get done it will be finalized at a lower price.

From the outset it was clear to me that the Kraft/Cadbury deal represented "managerial capitalism" more than it did shareholder capitalism. And in that battle, I know which side I am on.

I'm with Warren.

Read More…

Hot Stocks: Apple's Acquisition of Quattro Puts It on a Collision Course with Google

By , Money Morning - January 5, 2010

With its acquisition of Quattro Wireless, Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) has opened the door to competition with Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO), Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), and especially Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) in the mobile advertising market.

And Apple's venerable App Store will play a key role in the company's expansion.

All Things Digital, a tech blog affiliated with The Wall Street Journal, reported the deal's value at $275 million, citing several anonymous sources. It is the 24th acquisition in Apple's 34-year history, and is characteristic of the previous 23: buying a small company that can easily be integrated into its existing projects.

In this case, Apple can use mobile web ads developed by Quattro to generate income from outside advertisers.

Read More…

Hot Stocks: With Alcon Sold, Will Nestle Try to Outmuscle Kraft in a Bid for Cadbury?

By , Money Morning - January 5, 2010

Is a bidding war brewing for Cadbury PLC (NYSE ADR: CBY)?

In a widely anticipated move, Nestle SA (PINK: NSRGY) said yesterday (Monday) that it would sell its remaining 52% stake of Alcon Inc. (NYSE: ACN) to Swiss drug maker Novartis AG (NYSE ADR: NVS) for about $28 billion. That influx of cash could give Nestle the financial firepower to go up against Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) in a competing bid for Cadbury.

Nestle is always "open to acquisition opportunities if they fit strategically," Chief Executive Officer Paul Bulcke told The Wall Street Journal in September.

Read More…

How to Make the Most of a Resurgent M&A Market in 2010

By Larry D. Spears, Contributing Writer, Money Morning - January 4, 2010

Unlike this time last year, prospects for U.S. corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A) appear robust heading into the new year. And that bodes well for investors astute enough to identify the sectors where action will likely be hottest.

As an indication of the improving outlook, nine deals with a total value of $19.9 billion were announced from the start of December through Christmas Eve. That came on top of November's 14 M&A announcements, which were valued at $63.175 billion - although that number was distorted somewhat by Warren Buffett's $26.52 billion bid for the 78% of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI) he didn't already own.
 

By contrast, archives of merger-tracking Web site The Online Investor,  show 15 deals involving publicly traded U.S. stocks in December 2008, but the total value was a meager $3.986 billion. (That's not counting the $8.8 billion merger of Japanese electronics giants Panasonic Corp. (NYSE ADR: PC) and Sanyo Electric Co. (OTC: SANYY), which brightened the global picture somewhat.) November 2008 had 14 deals valued at just $4.898 billion.

Read More…

"Financial Reform" Just Camouflage for Wall Street's Latest Power Play

By Shah Gilani, Chief Investment Strategist, Money Morning • @ShahGilani_TW - December 30, 2009

Anti-Wall Street sentiment makes for a good cover, but behind the scenes and rhetoric, legislators are working with the country's largest financial firms to fashion a new system that concentrates even more risk and reward at fewer banks.

And what's more, the underlying socialization of the system will guarantee the success of excess with the full faith and credit of taxpayers.

On Dec. 11, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009, which among other things, creates a consumer protection agency, strips the U.S. Federal Reserve of certain powers and subjects it to politicization, calls for big banks to finance a $150 billion bailout fund and gives the government power to break up or coddle financial firms as they see fit.

The Senate will try and reconcile the House bill with an earlier version of its own bill. Legislators are hoping to have a final bill ready sometime in early 2010.

But, in a testament to the power of Wall Street, what's on the table is what works for bankers and the Street. The resulting de-facto socialization of American banking is nothing more than Wall Street's secret agenda to eliminate competition, grow bigger profit engines and rely on the perception of a socialized system to support cheap funding.

Read More…

Exxon Deal For XTO Energy May Set Off Wave of Energy Mergers and Acquisitions

By Don Miller, Contributing Writer, Money Morning - December 14, 2009

In a deal that may set off a wave of mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity in the energy sector, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), the biggest U.S. oil company, agreed to buy XTO Energy Inc. (NYSE: XTO), the largest U.S. natural gas producer, in an all-stock deal valued at $31 billion.

Exxon, which hasn't made a major acquisition since it bought Mobil ten years ago, is taking advantage of the low gas prices pressuring smaller, debt-laden gas exploration companies. The economic downturn and discoveries of vast pools of North American natural gas have kept a lid on gas prices, leaving companies in the industry strapped for operating cash.

The deal announced yesterday (Monday) values XTO at $51.69 a share, 25% higher than Friday's closing price. XTO holders will get 0.7098 share of Exxon for each share of XTO. The Texas-based oil giant will also assume $10 billion in debt.

Read More…

Property Group Bucks Commercial Real Estate Trend with $2.23 Billion Acquisition

By Don Miller, Contributing Writer, Money Morning - December 8, 2009

Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE: SPG) defied prevailing commercial real estate trends yesterday (Tuesday) by agreeing to acquire Prime Outlets Acquisition LLC, an operator of 22 outlet centers around the nation, for $2.33 billion including debt.

Prime Outlets operates factory outlet centers in major U.S. metropolitan markets including Washington D.C., Baltimore, San Antonio and Orlando. The centers were 92% occupied as of June 30 and generated sales of about $370 a square foot, Simon Property said.

Simon will pay Prime Outlets' owners $700 million, 80% in cash and 20% in common operating partnership units, plus $1.63 billion in debt, Indianapolis-based Simon Property said.

Read More…

FirstPrev
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
NextLast

© 2022 Money Morning All Rights Reserved. Protected by copyright of the United States and international treaties. Any reproduction, copying, or redistribution (electronic or otherwise, including the world wide web), of content from this webpage, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of Money Morning.

Address: 1125 N Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21201 | USA | Phone: 888.384.8339 I Disclaimer | Sitemap | Privacy Policy | Whitelist Us