| To: richardred who wrote (1893) | 2/7/2008 11:37:29 AM | | From: richardred | | | | Multi-Color Announces Impact to Earnings per Share from Acquisition of Collotype International Holdings
Thursday February 7, 11:31 am ET
SHARONVILLE, Ohio, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Multi-Color Corporation (Nasdaq: LABL - News) announced today that its acquisition of Collotype International Holdings Pty. Ltd. ("Collotype") is expected to close by the end of February 2008. Both parties are in the process of finalizing closing documentation to satisfy the conditions and other closing deliveries required by the purchase agreement.
The transaction is expected to be accretive to earnings immediately upon completion. Multi-Color estimates this acquisition will increase Earnings per Share by 22 cents to 24 cents in the first full year of operation. Pro Forma financial results will be reported after the closing in accordance with SEC regulations.
Frank Gerace, President and CEO of Multi-Color commented, "We continue to be encouraged by the potential growth that a Multi-Color and Collotype combination provides. We expect a smooth integration process and have identified business opportunities that will have an immediate positive impact."
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| To: richardred who wrote (1279) | 2/8/2008 1:01:36 PM | | From: richardred | | | | Paetec Buys McLeodUSA for $492 Million
Friday February 8, 12:38 pm ET
Communications Company Paetec Holding Buys McLeodUSA in $492 Million Stock Deal
FAIRPORT, N.Y. (AP) -- Communications company Paetec Holding Corp. said Friday it completed its acquisition of McLeodUSA Inc. after shareholders of both companies approved the deal at special meetings.
Paetec announced in September that it planned to buy its privately-held competitor for $492 million in stock. The company said at the time that the transaction, which includes the assumption of $65 million in debt, would expand its voice and data operations into 18 additional states and add markets such as Dallas, Denver, Houston, Phoenix and Seattle.
McLeodUSA shareholders will receive 1.3 shares of Paetec stock for each share of McLeodUSA stock they own. Paetec plans to issue about 40 million shares of stock to McLeodUSA shareholders.
The combined company is estimated to have annual sales of at least $1.6 billion.
Paetec offers voice and data communication for large businesses and institutions, including universities, government organizations and hospitals.
McLeodUSA provides Internet access and phone services, primarily to small and midsize businesses and residential customers.
Shares of Paetec shed 11 cents to $8.49 in afternoon trading.
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| To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (1883) | 2/8/2008 1:06:39 PM | | From: richardred | | | | ALL BUSINESS: Fear of Buyout Debt
Friday February 8, 1:02 pm ET
By Rachel Beck, AP Business Writer
ALL BUSINESS: Distressed Buyout Debt Worrisome for More Than Just Private-Equity Firms
NEW YORK (AP) -- Homeowners aren't alone in experiencing buyers' remorse in today's troubled marketplace. Private-equity firms, too, are finding out their recent investments might not be worth what they paid for them.
Gone are the days when buyout shops could purchase a company, pile on debt for an initial fat payout for themselves and then quickly flip it for a big profit. The credit crisis has put a freeze on debt-laden dealmaking and is causing bond investors to shun the risky debt used to finance the takeovers.
That could jeopardize the returns seen on some deals -- which isn't just the buyout firms' problem. Investors from pension funds to endowments to financial institutions have plunged big money into private-equity funds.
It's also a problem for the banks that are stuck with billions of dollars in loans clogging their books that they've been unable to sell.
That's quite a change from the recent past when median returns topped 20 percent for buyout funds raised from 2000 to 2004, according to London-based Private Equity Intelligence. For pension funds in particular, these holdings outperformed their other investments 82 percent of the time when looking back over the last 10 years, Preqin data found.
Those returns caused a flood of cash to flow into buyout funds, which raised an aggregate $210 billion in 2007, on top of the $233 billion raised the year before, Preqin found.
That money, along with easy access to cheap debt financing, fueled the record-setting pace of dealmaking in recent years. But triggered by surging defaults on home loans, lenders have tightened the credit tap for businesses and consumers, and that's spurred a flight to quality by debt-market investors.
"People are worried that the economy is facing a difficult time," said Steve Miller, managing director at Standard & Poor's Leveraged Commentary & Data. So "investors have repriced risk to cushion if default rates start to really go up."
That's most evident in leveraged loans, which are issued by banks and sold to investors much like junk bonds. They are often used to fund leveraged buyouts, but given the downturn in investor interest, the banks have been left with $150 billion overhang of LBO debt on their books.
Morgan Stanley's chief financial officer Colm Kelleher told an investor conference on Wednesday that the investment firm's $20 billion of leveraged-buyout loan commitments are its "top concern right now," according to a transcript provided by Thomson Financial.
At the same time, much of the LBO debt trading in the marketplace has been plunging in value, suggesting a buyers' strike by investors worried about how close we are to the bottom of the credit crisis. The tumbling prices can also indicate that investors are worried that bankruptcy could loom at some companies.
The Distressed Debt Investor found that 29 percent of 176 bonds and loans tied to U.S. LBOs from 2002 through the third quarter of last year, when this market began to seize up, are trading at distressed levels. Those are bonds with option-adjusted spreads at least 10 percentage points above Treasury yields or loans trading at 90 cents or less on the dollar.
That's way ahead of the nearly 19 percent level of distress seen in the broad-market Merrill Lynch Master II High-Yield Index, according to the publication put out by FridsonVision.
One example is Claire's Stores, which was taken private by Apollo Management in a $3 billion deal last May. The Pembroke Pines, Fla., jewelry and accessories retailer's bonds have slumped in recent months, amid a weakness in its sales.
Its senior notes due in 2015 have plunged 33 percent to trade around 67 cents on the dollar. And its subordinated notes are trading around 48 cents on the dollar, according to bond research firm KDP Advisor in Montpelier, Vt., which is recommending its clients sell their Claire's Stores' debt.
The price of Tribune Co.'s debt is also sharply lower; weakening economic conditions are knocking down advertising revenues throughout the newspaper industry. The media company, taken private by investor Sam Zell for $8.2 billion in a deal that closed in December, issued $5.15 billion in loans that are now trading at about a 27 percent discount, according to S&P LCD.
Zell's investment in Tribune was $315 million and he owns warrants to buy about 40 percent of the company, which will be formally owned by an employee stock ownership plan.
Many others, including data processor First Data Corp., real estate broker Realogy Corp. and Freescale Semiconductor Inc., have also seen their LBO debt battered in recent months.
The plunging prices don't put the buyout firms in a good spot. Many made their purchases at the height of the buyout boom, making it questionable if they'll ever see their original valuations again.
Some will likely try to wait out the market's storm before they try to sell the investments off, but others might not have that luxury. That's where this could get ugly -- for all of us.
Rachel Beck is the national business columnist for The Associated Press. Write to her at rbeck(at)ap.org
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| To: richardred who wrote (1902) | 2/8/2008 5:19:40 PM | | From: RockyBalboa | | | | CNET (afterhours 8.50) looks like something is in the works, this time. Google mentioned as suitor, stock and option activity spiked with evidently the 10 calls active, they offer some bang for the buck.
Of course yahoo msg board is active and think the deal nearly done and with a huge premium.. |
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| To: RockyBalboa who wrote (1903) | 2/9/2008 12:51:56 AM | | From: richardred | | | | With Microsoft going after Yahoo I can see reason for a rumor. With the said option activity, if rumor becomes truth. A leak most likely will be investigated by the SEC.
At a quick glance ICAC IAC/InterActiveCorp (ASK search)seems like a good rumored suitor to?
If you want to chase some rumors here's a possible start.
updates.zdnet.com |
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| To: richardred who wrote (1888) | 2/10/2008 12:09:51 AM | | From: richardred | | | | Yahoo Board to Spurn $44B Microsoft Bid
Saturday February 9, 11:37 pm ET
By Michael Liedtke, AP Business Writer
Yahoo Board Intends to Turn Down Microsoft's Unsolicited $44.6 Billion Takeover Bid
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Yahoo Inc.'s board will reject Microsoft Corp.'s $44.6 billion takeover bid after concluding the unsolicited offer undervalues the slumping Internet pioneer, a person familiar with the situation said Saturday.
The decision could provoke a showdown between two of the world's most prominent technology companies with Internet search leader Google Inc. looming in the background. Leery of Microsoft expanding its turf on the Internet, Google already has offered to help Yahoo avert a takeover and urged antitrust regulators to take a hard look at the proposed deal.
If the world's largest software maker wants Yahoo badly enough, Microsoft could try to override Yahoo's board by taking its offer -- originally valued at $31 per share -- directly to the shareholders. Pursuing that risky route probably will require Microsoft to attempt to oust Yahoo's current 10-member board.
Alternatively, Microsoft could sweeten its bid. Many analysts believe Microsoft is prepared to offer as much as $35 per share for Yahoo, which still boasts one of the Internet's largest audiences and most powerful advertising vehicles despite a prolonged slump that has hammered its stock.
Yahoo's board reached the decision after exploring a wide variety of alternatives during the past week, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press. The person didn't want to be identified because the reasons for Yahoo's rebuff won't be officially spelled out until Monday morning.
Microsoft and Yahoo declined to comment Saturday on the decision, first reported by The Wall Street Journal on its Web site.
Yahoo's board concluded Microsoft's offer is inadequate even though the company couldn't find any other potential bidders willing to offer a higher price.
Without other suitors on the horizon, Yahoo has had little choice but to turn a cold shoulder toward Microsoft if the board hopes to fulfill its responsibility to fetch the highest price possible for the company, said technology investment banker Ken Marlin.
"You would expect Yahoo's board to reject Microsoft at first," Marlin said. "If they didn't, they would be accused of malfeasance."
But by spurning Microsoft, Yahoo risks further alienating shareholders already upset about management missteps that have led to five consecutive quarters of declining profits.
The downturn caused Yahoo's stock price to plummet by more than 40 percent, erasing about $20 billion in shareholder wealth, in the three months leading up to Microsoft's bid.
Seizing on an opportunity to expand its clout on the Internet, Microsoft dangled a takeover offer that was 62 percent above Yahoo's stock price of just $19.18 when the bid was announced Feb. 1. Yahoo shares ended the past week at $29.20.
Led by company co-founder and board member Jerry Yang, Yahoo now will be under intense pressure to lay out a strategy that will prevent its stock price from collapsing again. What's more, Yang and the rest of the management team must convince Wall Street that they can boost Yahoo's market value beyond Microsoft's offer.
Yahoo's shares traded at $31 as recently as November, but have eroded steadily amid concerns about the slowing economy and frustration with the slow pace of a turnaround that Yang promised last June when he replaced former movie studio mogul Terry Semel as Yahoo's chief executive officer.
This isn't the first time that Yahoo has spurned Microsoft. The Redmond, Wash.-based company offered $40 per share to buy Yahoo a year ago only to be shooed away by Semel, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person didn't want to be identified because that bid was never made public.
Yahoo now may want that Microsoft to raise its price to at least $40 per share again. That would force Microsoft to raise its current offer by about $12 billion -- a high price that might alarm its own shareholders.
Microsoft's stock price already has slid 12 percent since the company announced its Yahoo bid, reflecting concerns about the deal bogging down amid potential management distractions, sagging employee morale and other headaches that frequently arise when two big companies are combined.
Although it isn't involved directly in the deal, Google is the main reason Yahoo is being pursued by Microsoft.
Yahoo has struggled largely because it hasn't been able to target online ads as effectively as Google.
Microsoft believes Yahoo's brand, engineers, audience and services will provide the company with valuable weapons in its so far unsuccessful attempt to narrow Google's huge lead in the lucrative Internet search and advertising markets.
As it examined ways to thwart Microsoft, Yahoo considered an advertising partnership with Google -- an alliance long favored by analysts who believe it would boost the profits of both companies. It was unclear Saturday if Yahoo's plans for boosting its stock price include a Google partnership, which would probably face antitrust issues.
A Microsoft takeover of Yahoo would also be scrutinized by antitrust regulators in the United States and Europe. The antitrust uncertainties could be cited as one of the reasons that Yahoo's board decided to spurn Microsoft.
Yahoo: info.yahoo.com
Microsoft: microsoft.com
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| To: richardred who wrote (1275) | 2/10/2008 11:07:57 PM | | From: richardred | | | | Barron's Picks the Top 7 Food Stocks
posted on: February 10, 2008 | about stocks: CAG / CPB / GIS / HNZ / HSY / K / KFT / NSRGY.PK / WWY
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Barron's says the time may be ripe for food stocks, given their low valuations and strong upside potential. While some investors fret sharply higher commodity prices, food producers have thus-far successfully passed on rising costs to the consumer. With the exclusion of richly-valued Hershey (HSY) and Wrigley (WWY), food stocks trade at about 15x 2008 earnings, substantially cheaper than their 17-19 average ratio of recent years.
While not likely to be the most exciting of stocks, food companies should reward investors with steady growth and secure dividends. In order of appeal, here are the food producers Barron's likes best:
1. Nestle (NSRGY.PK) -- #1 food company in the world, Nestle boasts strong organic growth, a low P/E ratio and valuable non-food assets. Barron's says Nestle may be the "strongest and most balanced" food company in the world, yet its shares trade at under 14x earnings net of some non-food holdings. Shares ($107) could hit $140.
2. Kellogg (K) -- #1 best managed U.S. food company, its shares trade at just 16x 2008 profits. One analyst cites Kellogg's "superior operating fundamentals, superior innovation capability, broad-based market-share growth and substantial financial flexibility," and says shares ($49) could hit $60 over the next year.
3. General Mills (GIS) -- pays a 2.8% dividend, and has been active in share repurchases. With a 16x 2008 P/E ratio, shares ($54) look headed back to the low $60s.
4. Heinz (HNZ) -- with Nelson Peltz now on its board, the company boosted its dividend and share buybacks, cut costs and increased marketing. Shares ($42) could top $50, and the company may become a takeover target.
5. Kraft (KFT) -- at 15x 2008 earnings and a yield of 3.7%, the company is poised for a turnaround.
6. ConAgra (CAG) -- shares trade at a depressed 13x 2008 profits. Earnings are getting a boost from a strong commodity-trading unit. Shares ($21) could hit the high $20s by year-end.
7. Campbell Soup (CPB) -- despite modest domestic growth, shares ($31) may have bottomed at 15x 2008 earnings.
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