It was announced on the
weekend that HSBC would sell 195 branches in New York State to First Niagara Financial Group for $1 billion as it continues to cut
costs in the face of falling revenue. The following week, the seller
was up 1.6%, while the buyer fell 2.7%. On Monday, Windstream
Corporation acquired Paetec, a broadband provider, for $891
million. The tech giant fell 0.5% as Paetec rose over 20% on the
news. Radio stations Westwood One and Dial Global merged in a
stock-for-stock deal worth $250 million. Westwood was boosted 13.6%. Google purchased Dealmap, a website that gathers discounts from
hundreds of online stores, for an undisclosed fee. The world’s most
popular search engine was up 0.5%. Monday also saw two deals
involving activist investors looking to improve struggling American
businesses. A ten percent stake in Talbots was bought by Sycamore
Partners, a private equity firm. The market reacted positively, with
shares in the troubled clothing chain up almost 18%. A five percent
stake in McGraw-Hill was acquired by a Canadian pension and Jana
Partners, a hedge fund, in after-hours trading. This sent shares in
the information services provider over 2% higher by Tuesday’s
opening bell.
The following day, Kirin Holdings purchased Aleadri-Schinni Participações e
Representações, a Brazilian drinks manufacturer, for $2.6 billion.
The Japanese food and drinks manufacturer was down 0.3%. Fresenius
Medical Care announced that it would buy two dialysis chains;
Liberty Dialysis for $1.7 billion and American Access Care for $385
million. Despite this aggressive move, the world’s largest dialysis
treatment firm fell 2.4%. The board of Northumbrian Water Group has
decided to accept the offer made by Cheung Kong Holdings worth $3.9
billion. The buyer was down 0.65%, while the British utilities
company was up 4.3%. Following a quiet midweek, Thursday saw the Blackstone Group acquire Emdeon, which provides medical data
services, for $3 billion. This didn’t stop the buyout firm’s
share price plummeting 10.8%, as Emdeon rose 13%. On Friday, the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China purchased an eighty
percent stake in Standard Bank Argentina, Standard Investment and
Inversora Diagonal for $600 million. The buyer was down 1.4% at
week’s end.
