MARKET CURRENTS
real-time news and commentary for investors
MARKET CURRENTS
Flip Order
-
Today - Wednesday, May 23
-
11:03 AM Cash-rich Seagate (STX -2.2%) is acquiring French external hard drive/low-end storage vendor LaCie for $186M. Seagate declares the companies' offerings to be "highly complementary" (in spite of moderate overlap), and touts LaCie's ability to bolster its European and Japanese presence. Seagate might also be interested in the potential to boost LaCie's margins by having the company rely on Seagate's hard drives. Comment!
-
10:24 AM Siemens (SI) is interested in making acquisitions of around a "couple of billion" euros in the area of industrial software, CEO Peter Loescher tells an investor conference. "The core focus of Siemens is organic growth with bolt-on acquisition opportunities if they make sense," Loescher says. Comment!
-
9:55 AM TRC Capital makes an unsolicited mini-tender offer of $36.55 a share for up to 3M shares in Exelon (EXC), or about 0.35% of its common stock. The nuclear power plant operators advises shareholders not to tender their stock to TRC. Excelon is -0.05% at $37.05. (PR) Comment!
-
9:20 AM A day after archrival SAP spent $4.3B on Ariba, Oracle (ORCL) is reportedly spending over $300M to buy Vitrue, developer of a cloud-based social media marketing platfrorm. Vitrue, which competes with Constant Contact (CTCT) and Bazaarvoice (BV), complements the cloud customer support solutions Oracle obtained through its purchase of RightNow. Of course, the effectiveness of social media marketing has become a hot-button subject lately. Comment!
-
9:19 AM Uranium giant Cameco's (CCJ) planned effort to raise as much as $1B through a combination of securities may signal an upcoming acquisition, BMO Capital suggests, citing falling uranium equity valuations in recent weeks and CCJ's ample funding capability. Potential targets: Paladin Energy (PALAF.PK), Denison Mines (DNN), UEX Corp. (UEXCF.PK) 1 Comment
-
8:55 AM With rumors flying about RailAmerica (RA) and the company disclosing that it's considering strategic alternatives, Wells Fargo takes the line that there is some meat on the bone. Analysts reiterate an Overweight rating on RA, citing strong fundamentals and the potential for bidding action. Shares +10.2% premarket to $24.50, after jumping 2.7% yesterday in a late afternoon rally. Comment!
-
8:55 AM GSK (GSK) ammends the conditions of its $2.6B tender offer for Human Genome (HGSI), requiring that the latter redeem or invalidate its poison pill. Comment!
-
5:30 AM P-E firm Hellman & Friedman is reportedly considering selling or listing Getty Images, the world's biggest provider of stock photos, video and other digital content. The company could be valued at $4B, up from the $2.4B that H&F paid to acquire the firm four years ago. Comment!
-
5:19 AM Barclays (BCS) raised a net $5.5B from the divestment of its 19.6% stake in BlackRock (BLK), selling 26.2M shares to money managers for $160 each and 6.38M shares to BlackRock for $156.80. There's also a greenshoe option of 2.6M shares. The sale will increase Barclays' Tier 1 capital ratio by about five basis points as it looks to meet Basel III requirements. Comment!
-
3:29 AM Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production trumps Shell's (RDS.A) bid for Cove Energy (CNVGF.PK), offering £1.22B ($1.9B) for the Mozambique-focused explorer. Cove's management says it now backs PTT's bid, with the reversal coming just hours ahead of a deadline for investors to accept Shell's $1.8B offer. Shell -1.2% in London. Comment!
Other date
Latest Articles
