| To: The Ox who wrote (3697) | 9/22/2014 9:08:52 AM | | From: richardred | | | | | Two big ones on Monday by Merck and Germany and Siemens. IMO By the time congress acts The foreign owned companies will do it for them. |
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| To: richardred who wrote (3780) | 9/22/2014 12:09:54 PM | | From: richardred | | | | Beer Industry Witnesses Another Round of Consolidation
By Zacks Equity Research 5 minutes ago
A lot has been happening in the global brewing industry which is hinting at another round of consolidation. After the rumor of a possible acquisition of SABMiller plc ( SBMRY) by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ( BUD) aka AB InBev, The Wall Street Journal last week reported that a Russian company is acquiring American sub-premium craft beer maker, Pabst Brewing Company.
As per the news sources, Russia’s biggest independent brewer, Oasis Beverages has partnered with a California-based private-equity firm, TSG Consumer Partners LLC, to acquire Pabst Brewing Company. As per the agreement, Oasis Beverages will be entitled for a majority stake while TSG will take a minority stake in the craft beer company. The Wall Street Journal anticipates the deal to range between $700 million and $750 million.
Founded by Jacob Best in 1844, the Pabst Brewing Company was named after Frederick Pabst in 1889. The company is currently owned by a consumer-products investor C. Dean Metropoulos & Co., who had acquired it in 2010 for $250 million from a charitable foundation. Currently, the company with its over two dozen brands accounts for nearly 3% of the U.S. beer market.
Oasis Beverages’ recent move exhibits its intent to enhance operations in the U.S. alcoholic-beverage market. The company currently operates in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
We have noticed that the alcoholic beverage industry has been witnessing major consolidation in recent times. All the companies are taking utmost efforts to increase their share in this matured U.S. beer market and in other global markets either through merger & acquisition or by expanding into new regions.
Earlier, Bloomberg, on Sep 14 reported that SABMiller approached Heineken NV ( HEINY) with a buyout offer which was rejected by the later. It is believed that the acquisition offer made by SABMiller was to defend itself from AB InBev’s takeover bid.
Some other important acquisitions made in 2014 include the buyout of Beam Inc. in January by Japanese beverage company, Suntory Holdings Ltd., for a sum of $16 billion. Subsequently, AB InBev, in order to strengthen its position in the Asia-Pacific region, reacquired its South Korean asset – Oriental Brewery – for a sum of $5.8 billion from KKR and Affinity Equity Partners. Further, Constellation Brands Inc. ( STZ) is anticipated to close its pending acquisition of Casa Noble, a premium quality tequila brand, by the end of this month.
We expect the consolidation trend that has spread across the beer industry to continue as this will not only facilitate the companies in increasing their market share but will also help in reducing costs through leverage from suppliers and distributors.
Further, presence of large amounts of cash on corporate balance sheets, favorable credit markets, low interest rates, and strength in the stock market have also acted as confidence boosters for the companies.
Looking at the share movement of both the buyer and seller companies after any merger & acquisition news, we believe that shareholders extend full support to big acquisitions so that the companies can beef up their market presence amid rampant consolidation.
Therefore, looking at the recent developments, we suggest our investors to add and hold some alcoholic-beverage companies to their portfolio. Apart from AB InBev, Boston Beer Company ( SAM) and Molson Coors Brewing Company ( TAP) are the premium beer makers which show huge growth potential as both the companies are making efforts to expand.
finance.yahoo.com |
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| To: richardred who wrote (3785) | 9/22/2014 1:45:11 PM | | From: Glenn Petersen | | | | Actually, there may be an opportunity for tax reform next year, particularly if the Republicans win the Senate and take Harry Reid out of the equation. Paul Ryan is expected to become the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Ground Zero for all tax legislation. He is on record as wanting to rewrite the tax code. Obama has previously stated that our corporate tax rates are too high and that he would accept lower rates in exchange for the closing of some loopholes. There may be an opportunity for compromise. The window closes, of course, when the 2016 presidential campaign begins.
If nothing changes and corporations continue to exit the U.S., the "fixes" will probably be punitive, which would only accelerate the flight of U.S. companies and dissuade foreign companies from investing in the U.S. |
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| From: Glenn Petersen | 9/22/2014 6:53:18 PM | | | | | | Apparently I was wrong. It would appear that changes to the tax code are written by the Executive Branch,
Obama Administration Issues New Rules to Combat Tax Inversions
Actions Intended to Make Inversions Harder to Accomplish, Less Profitable
By John D. McKinnon And Damian Paletta
Wall Street Journal
Updated Sept. 22, 2014 6:19 p.m. ET
The Obama administration went on a regulatory offensive against U.S. companies that move to lower-tax countries, issuing new rules that take away major benefits of the deals.
In a multipronged attack, the administration took action under five separate sections of the tax code to make so-called inversions harder to accomplish and less profitable.
Three of the moves are aimed at blocking inverted companies from using techniques—sometimes known as "hopscotching"—to get access to their offshore cash without paying U.S. tax on it. Those would apply to deals closed on or after Sept. 22.
Another move makes it more difficult for U.S. firms to skirt current ownership standards in inverting. Still another move would make it harder for U.S. firms to spin off subsidiaries overseas.
Taken together, the administration's moves are likely to remove at least some of the economic appeal of inversions, which have become more common in recent years, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry. Noticeably absent, however, was a much-discussed idea to limit inverted companies' ability to ship U.S. profits overseas tax free.
Some experts have questioned how much authority the Treasury Department actually has in the area, and legal challenges to Monday's actions remain a possibility. The moves also seem unlikely to end inversions altogether, as even Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has recently conceded, in part because the administration has little legal ability to block the most common type of inversion.
Still, Monday's announcement was likely to chill many deals, at least for now. The Treasury Department also promised to continue looking for other regulatory steps to discourage inversions, and to review tax treaties.
In an inversion, a U.S. company reincorporates for tax purposes in a tax-friendlier country such as the U.K. or Ireland, typically while maintaining its real headquarters in the U.S. Most recent inversions have come in mergers between a U.S. firm and a smaller foreign firm, after a series of regulatory steps during President Barack Obama's first term curbed other types of inversions.
Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com and Damian Paletta at damian.paletta@wsj.com
online.wsj.com |
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| To: The Ox who wrote (3789) | 9/23/2014 4:30:56 PM | | From: Glenn Petersen | | | | | A simple tax code would be more efficient and easier to police. However, it would reduce the employment opportunities for the attorneys, accountants and lobbyists who wrote or influenced the writing of the current code, and the attorneys, accountants and lobbyists who are responsible for driving the trucks through loopholes in the code. The odds of that happening are slim. |
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| To: richardred who wrote (3456) | 9/25/2014 11:53:11 PM | | From: richardred | | | | Nice surprise to come home tonight to- Bulls Eye # 3 this year LPDX-LipoScience :+ )
LabCorp Acquiring Cholesterol Tester LipoScience By AMY REEVES, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 11:49 AM ET
Medical-testing giant Laboratory Corp. of America (NYSE: LH) agreed to buy startup LipoScience (NASDAQ: LPDX) for $85.3 million in cash Thursday, sending the latter's shares up more than 62% in the stock market today.
LipoScience makes a lipid profile test using nuclear magnetic resonance technology to measure a patient's cholesterol levels and help manage heart disease. The stock went public at 9 in January 2013, but was hammered for over a year, bottoming out below 3 earlier this month. In an email to clients Thursday, ISI Group analyst Michael Cherny wrote that the company's problems are probably behind it.
"We believe that LPDX's test is superior when used for managing patients, and the issues that the company has faced in the past have largely been due to market access (and) negotiating reimbursement rates with third-party vendors," he wrote. "Given our positive view on the test, we believe that LH's commercial infrastructure should drive broader test adoption by removing some of the barriers to market access. Additionally, some payers have been pushing back against tests offered by out-of-network labs, which had impacted LPDX. Given that LH is an in-network provider for most large plans, we expect the above-mentioned payer-related pressures to abate."
 View Enlarged Image
By midmorning Thursday, LipoScience's stock was trading a bit below LabCorp's offer price of $5.25 a share. LabCorp's stock was down about 1%, near 103.
Follow Amy Reeves on Twitter: @IBD_AReeves.
Read More At Investor's Business Daily: news.investors.com
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| To: richardred who wrote (3741) | 9/26/2014 12:01:01 PM | | From: richardred | | | | RE:SKY Thank goodness they sold the RV business. It buys more time for the MFG. Homes segment and gives SKY a better chance for profitability IMO. This should keep me out the Picks of the qtr. Cellar, this QTR.
Elkhart-based Skyline shedding RV unit, selling to Evergreen
The announcement was made Friday but terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed.
Don Emahiser, president of Skyline Corp's RV Group, stands before one of the company's new travel trailer brands, the Trident, Monday, Sept. 15, 2014 as his staff set up its display for last week's RV Open House Week outside the RV/MH Hall of Fame. Skyline announced Friday, Sept. 26 that it's selling the RV side of its business to Middlebury-based Evergreen RV. (The Elkhart Truth/file photo)
An embattled longtime Elkhart recreational vehicle and manufactured housing maker is spinning off its underperforming RV division and selling it to a growing upstart.
Skyline Corp. is selling its RV business to Middlebury-based Evergreen RV, the companies announced Friday, Sept. 26. Skyline will continue to make manufactured housing.
“I am very excited to be acquiring the RV division from Skyline,” Kelly Rose, Evergreen RV’s chairman of the board, said in a press release. “Mr. Art Decio has been a longtime friend of mine and a person who I hold in the highest esteem and respect.”
The move comes as Skyline recently announced that an independent audit found substantial doubt that the company could continue operating with its heavy losses and declining capital, and despite Skyline’s vow to turn things around with a yet-to-be-announced plan that included the release of three new RV brands for 2015 at last week’s RV Open House Week. Skyline has lost more than $129.5 million over the past eight years, and hasn’t turned a profit since 2006.
Skyline has focused more heavily on manufactured housing than RVs in recent years. Of its $191.7 million in net sales for the current fiscal year, $145.9 million — or 76 percent — came from manufactured housing, while $45.9 million (the other 24 percent) was derived from RVs. Total net sales were down 29 percent from 2010’s $136.2 million, when the MH/RV ratio was 66 percent to 34 percent.
But the company’s manufactured housing sales from January through June were up 53 percent compared to that period a year ago, in an industry whose sales only grew by 7 percent during that time.
Skyline founder Decio is still the publicly traded company’s largest shareholder with 17 percent of the stock.
Skyline has signed a letter of interest in the sale, but both companies have yet to negotiate and execute terms of the deal.
To read more:
Middlebury-based EverGreen RV rose from ashes of Great Recession
Elkhart's Skyline Corp. posts eighth consecutive multi-million losses ahead of RV Open House
Evergreen rose from the ashes of the Great Recession. Industry veterans Rose and Mike Schoeffler funded the startup in late 2008, assembling executives from other companies that closed during the crisis. The company last year was the fastest-growing of the industry’s 15 largest manufacturers, according to Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Statistical Surveys Inc.
Rose said the company will try to retain all of the employees at Skyline’s last remaining RV plant in Bristol.
“Obviously the most important issues that face us immediately are retaining the very loyal employees of Skyline as well as solidifying and building on the tremendous dealer body that has partnered with Skyline over the decades,” Rose said.
It’s not the first time Rose has given new life to competitors who’ve struggled. In late 2011 Evergreen hired executives from the recently closed Carriage Inc. to launch its new high-end fifth wheel division, Lifestyle Luxury RV.
elkharttruth.com |
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| To: richardred who wrote (2454) | 9/28/2014 10:22:02 AM | | From: richardred | | | | Activist investor buys stake in Yahoo; urges takeover of AOL
Yahoo The Associated Press file photo
Yahoo is being urged to buy AOL Inc. by activist investor Jeffrey Smith of Starboard Value LP.
Waterloo Region Record
By Michael Liedtke
SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is getting some unsolicited advice on how to turn around the long-struggling Internet company, just like some of her predecessors who tangled with investors dissatisfied with management's performance.
In a letter on Friday, activist investor Jeffrey Smith urged Yahoo Inc. to buy another fallen Internet star, AOL Inc. and take steps to reduce the future taxes on the company's lucrative stake in China's Alibaba Group. He also chastised Mayer for spending $1.3 billion (all figures US) to acquire an Internet blogging service and more than two dozen other startups during the past two years with little to show in return so far.
To bolster his arguments, Smith says he has built a "significant" stake in Yahoo through Starboard Value LP. The size of the stake wasn't quantified in Friday's letter and hasn't yet been divulged in regulatory filings.
The idea of Yahoo and AOL getting together isn't a new one. Various analysts and other Internet observers have argued a marriage between the two companies would allow them to cut costs, attract more web surfers and, most importantly, strengthen their online advertising arsenal to improve their chances of competing against Internet stalwarts Google Inc. and Facebook Inc.
"It makes a lot of sense," said BGC Financial Partners Colin Gillis.
Yahoo and AOL didn't respond to requests for comment Friday.
The prospect of a change in Yahoo's recent direction seemed to excite investors. Yahoo's stock closed up $1.71, or 4.4 per cent, to $40.66 in trading Friday. AOL's stock added $1.58, or 3.7 per cent, to $44.55 as investors reacted to a potential buyout bid.
Smith previously agitated for change at AOL in 2012 after he acquired a 5.3 per cent stake in that company and mounted an unsuccessful campaign to win three board seats. He didn't express any interest in trying to replace anyone on Yahoo's nine-member board, which includes Mayer.
This is the third time in the past six years that an activist investor has targeted Yahoo for a shakeup. Billionaire Carl Icahn seized three spots on Yahoo's board in 2008 after attacking the company for spurning a $47.5-billion takeover offer from Microsoft Corp. and hedge-fund manager Daniel Loeb also wound up with three board seats in 2012 after orchestrating the ouster of one of Yahoo's previous CEO, Scott Thompson.
Since becoming Yahoo's CEO in July 2012, Mayer has been buying startups and trendy services such as Tumblr in an effort to appeal to a younger demographic and expand Yahoo's audience on smartphones and tablets as more people rely on those mobile devices to connect with digital services.
Given AOL is still closely associated to the days when people relied on dial-up modems to surf the web, Mayer might view a buyout to be "too backward-looking for Yahoo," Gillis said.
Yahoo could easily afford to take over AOL, whose market value is hovering around $3.5 billion. After paying taxes, Yahoo is expected to pocket about $6 billion from selling 140 million of its shares in Alibaba, a rapidly growing e-commerce company that went public last week.
Yahoo still holds a 15 per cent stake in Alibaba worth about $34 billion, an asset that Smith contends has been mismanaged. He believes that Yahoo could boost its stock price by about $16 per share by coming up with a strategy that would minimize the company's taxes when it sells the rest of its holdings in Alibaba Group and another investment in Yahoo Japan.
One way this might be done would be to engineer a tax-free spinoff of Yahoo's Asian investments, though Smith didn't explicitly float that idea in his letter. He said Starboard has discussed several "alternative structures" for Yahoo's Asian investments with tax specialists.
As it is, Yahoo's stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan are valued at a combined $42 billion. Before the letter was released, Yahoo's total market value stood at $39 billion — an assessment indicating that investors put little or no value on the company's ongoing U.S. business while discounting for the taxes that currently would have to be paid in eventual sales of the Alibaba and Yahoo Japan stakes.
therecord.com
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