Booker boss is pied piper of Tesco deal 28 Feb 2017 The UK wholesaler’s shareholders approved Tesco’s 4 bln pound takeover, despite a slim premium and activist calls for a beefed-up price. Booker CEO Charles Wilson will work on finding synergies with Tesco. A history of stellar returns made investors willing to follow his lead.
EQT embarks on ignominious cleanup 21 Feb 2018 The $14 bln gas company’s breakup plan provides simplicity that’s much needed after the purchase of rival Rice. But with three pending transactions – all negotiated separately – shareholders face a tortuous process, run by a management that hasn’t proved it’s up to the job.
Qualcomm shows the strain with NXP bid hike 20 Feb 2018 Sweetening its offer for the rival chipmaker looks like an attempt to disrupt Qualcomm’s own suitor even as proxy advisers urge efforts to negotiate a deal. Broadcom’s $120 bln attempt to make a tech monster may yet fail, but Qualcomm’s board is becoming less of an obstacle.
Nestlé’s tepid year poses bigger questions 15 Feb 2018 Lacklustre 2017 sales have focused investors on issues the Swiss group would rather avoid. Not renewing a shareholder agreement with L'Oréal suggests a rethink of its stake is underway. But the future of sugary brands and a push into health supplements need clearer explanation.
DowDuPont stock lacks activist chemistry 14 Feb 2018 The $166 bln industrial group is exceeding revenue estimates and planned merger cost cuts. Crunching two companies together and splitting into three should be worth more, according to activist Dan Loeb last year. He has gone quiet – and investors seem to have forgotten the story.
Tesco has to decide which investors to annoy 13 Feb 2018 Activist fund Sandell wants the UK supermarket group to up its 3.9 billion pound bid for Booker. A high hurdle for approval means a small minority can derail the deal. But if Tesco sweetens the offer, it will anger shareholders like Schroders who already think the price too rich.
Wrongs in Xerox deal don’t make Icahn right 12 Feb 2018 The activist is correct that the copier maker is giving up its autonomy to Fujifilm for cost savings that may never arrive. Yet his alternative, harking back to its 1970s technology leadership, isn’t convincing either. As print keeps shrinking, there is no quick fix for Xerox.
Newell proxy combatants share flawed strategy 9 Feb 2018 Starboard wants to replace the Elmer’s-to-Rubbermaid group’s board with a slate led by former managers of Jarden, which it bought two years ago. Newell has failed to hit targets, but Jarden’s rollup model was running out of gas too. A breakup would be a better activist ambition.
Predictions are hard, especially about the future 7 Feb 2018 Even so, Reuters Breakingviews attempts it each year. The latest effort, “Froth and Frustration,” inspired a series of events and discussions. We also polled audiences from North America to Asia and beyond on key issues. Here’s the outlook for 2018 in text, video and graphics.
Oil-patch merger should tick most of Icahn’s boxes 6 Feb 2018 Oklahoma driller Midstates wants to merge with the activist’s current plaything, SandRidge Energy. It could create considerable value from cost savings, and oust SandRidge’s CEO. In an ideal world, Icahn might prefer a cash offer, or an auction – but this is a pretty good fallback.
Wolf-pack clauses deserve shareholder howls 5 Feb 2018 More companies have been adding these elements to poison pills. But it took activist Carl Icahn’s campaign against SandRidge to thrust them into the spotlight. The goal is to prevent shareholders from speaking to each other. That should prompt owners to join forces to stop them.
NXP has Qualcomm over a barrel 31 Jan 2018 The larger chipmaker’s stock is close to Broadcom’s $105 bln hostile offer price. It might be because investors are warming to Qualcomm’s stand-alone worth. But that vision fades unless Qualcomm closes its own $38 bln deal for NXP. The danger now is raising its bid too much.
Viacom-CBS are better back together 26 Jan 2018 The Redstone family is mulling a $37 bln merger of the two media firms after scrapping plans in 2016. Walt Disney’s acquisition of bits of Fox is likely to be a consideration. And this time around, the larger CBS can give its sister a 30 pct premium and still create value.
Hohn’s LSE/U.S. mashup is tantalising but tricky 26 Jan 2018 After a failed boardroom coup, hedgie Chris Hohn reckons the $20 bln London Stock Exchange could be bought by a U.S. rival, according to Sky. A deal with, say, ICE, would create savings and scale in derivatives clearing. But the latter could prompt the UK government to object.
Activists beat bearable retreat in Clariant feud 25 Jan 2018 White Tale has surprisingly sold its stake in the Swiss chemical maker to SABIC. That may be a recognition its bid to shake up the group would fail. Exiting now may leave some money on the table, but the hedge fund consortium has probably made a decent return.
SandRidge dares Icahn to up the ante 24 Jan 2018 The $690 mln energy company is dropping the controversial, shareholder-unfriendly wolf-pack clause it used to try to defend a now-ditched merger. But it’s not yielding much on the activist’s other demands. That may prompt Icahn to target more than just poison pills and directors.
The Exchange: Trian’s Nelson Peltz 22 Jan 2018 Fresh from successfully gaining a seat on the board of Procter & Gamble, the biggest proxy fight in corporate American history, the founder and CEO of Trian Fund Management sat down for a discussion at Times Square on how investors can better engage with, and improve, the companies they own.
Icahn risks printer error on Xerox fight 22 Jan 2018 The activist wants to put the $8 bln copier company on the block. That makes sense, but torpedoing the CEO and directors during a sale does not. Icahn is also teaming up with pseudo-insider and fellow disgruntled shareholder Darwin Deason. That adds heft, but also controversy.
Viewsroom: Donald Trump goes to Davos 19 Jan 2018 The U.S. president heads to the Swiss Alps confab that’s the antithesis of his “America First” ideology. He’ll have competition: keynote speaker Narendra Modi, with his “Make in India” policy. Plus: BlackRock’s Larry Fink pushes social activism. And why Ford is stalling.
ThyssenKrupp takes second step to redemption 19 Jan 2018 Having pooled its steel assets with rival Tata, the German industrial group plans a further strategy shift. Just as well: margins even in the non-steel bits lag peers. The question is how far CEO Heinrich Hiesinger can follow the vogue for dismantling big, unwieldy conglomerates.