The weekend brought the
news that Hertz Global Holdings would purchase the Donlen
Corporation, a vehicle and equipment leasing company, for $250
million in cash. Despite this acquisition adding long term leasing to
Hertz’s existing car rental business, they were down 0.7% on
Monday; possibly due to them assuming $680 million of Donlen’s
debt. The next major deal came in the midweek when Nalco, a water
treatment company, was purchased by Ecolab for $5.4 billion. The
largest takeover ever by the disinfectant maker was met by negative
sentiment from its shareholders; it was down 7.4%. Nalco was up over
24%, reflecting the large premium that they had commanded. OPTI
Canada, an oil sands producer which had filed for bankruptcy, sold
itself to China National Offshore Oil Corporation for $2.1 billion.
The buyer was down 4.4%. Later on Wednesday, Randstad Holdings
purchased the SFN Group for $710 million; doubling its HR presence
in the US. The buyer was boosted 3.8% on this news, while SFN rose
53%, mirroring the premium offered.
Thursday saw Express
Scripts buy Medco Health Solutions for $29.1 billion, making the
buyer the largest pharmacy benefits manager in the country. There has
been increased consolidation in the health sector as of late due to
the US government’s health insurance reform. Express’ stock
gained 5.3% and Medco increased by 14.4%. Fridge was purchased by Google for an undisclosed fee as part of its social networking
project, Google+. The world’s most popular search engine was up
almost 2%. On Friday, News Corporation sold its Russian billboard
company News Outdoor Russia to a consortium led by a
Kremlin-controlled bank. This is not believed to have any connection
with the scandal in which the media giant is currently involved. The
sellers finished the week down 0.4%.
