May 26, 2010 at 5:47 a.m.
Filed under:
Food,
M&A
Bartender Elizabeth Lessner stands next to a Pabst Blue Ribbon logo at Betty’s Food and Spirits in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)
Dow Jones Newswires | Investor C. Dean Metropoulos made a fortune building well-known
consumer brands, including Bumble Bee Tuna and Vlasic Pickles. Now, he is looking to wash them down with a Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Metropoulos, a 64-year-old executive known for invigorating brands, has reached an agreement to buy Woodridge-based Pabst Brewing Co. from the charitable foundation that owns the company for about $250 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
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May 25, 2010 at 12:20 p.m.
Filed under:
Airlines,
M&A
Dow Jones Newswires | President Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. has spoken of merging the airline with another to keep it big enough to compete with rival carriers, U.K. newspaper The Times reports Tuesday.
He said that the airline might not be able to remain independent as the pace of industry consolidation picks up, according to the newspaper.
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May 25, 2010 at 10:43 a.m.
Filed under:
Entertainment,
M&A
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
| AMC Entertainment Inc. completed its $275 million acquisition of
Chicago-based Kerasotes ShowPlace Theatres LLC, which operates 95 movie
complexes and 972 screens in 21 markets.
The deal also gives Regal Entertainment Group a bigger footprint in the
local market and entry into the city of Chicago.
AMC confirmed Tuesday that it has sold to Regal the AMC Gardens 13 in
Skokie; Kerasotes Glen 10 in Glenview; AMC Cantera 30 in Warrenville;
and Kerasotes Showplace 12 in Bolingbrook. The Justice Department said
late Friday that AMC would have to divest those complexes, as well as
ones in the Indianapolis and Denver markets, in order for the
AMC-Kerasotes deal to pass regulatory scrutiny.
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May 24, 2010 at 4:37 p.m.
Filed under:
Entertainment,
M&A
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
| Two Kerasotes movie theater complexes within Chicago will reopen at 6
p.m. Tuesday as Regal Entertainment Group theaters, under an agreement
that allows Regal to gain a foothold within the city of Chicago.
Knoxville, Tenn.-based Regal announced Monday that it would acquire nine
theaters from AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. in Illinois, Indiana and
Colorado, in exchange for cash and two Regal theaters. While the company
is staying mum on several of the locations, two of the complexes are
the Kerasotes’ Chicago City North 14 and Webster Place 11 locations in
Chicago, a spokesman said.
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May 24, 2010 at 8:09 a.m.
Filed under:
Computers,
M&A,
Software,
Telecommunications
Associated Press | IBM Corp. said Monday that it is buying
AT&T Inc.’s Sterling Commerce unit, which makes software that helps
businesses buy and sell to each other, for $1.4 billion.
The deal would be IBM Corp.’s largest acquisition since it bought
business software maker Cognos in 2008.
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May 21, 2010 at 7:13 a.m.
Filed under:
Health care,
International,
M&A,
Pharmaceuticals
By Bruce Japsen | Abbott Laboratories said it will pay $3.72 billion for a unit of drug
giant Piramal Healthcare, a maker of popular generic medicines in
emerging markets, in a deal that will establish it as the largest
seller of prescription drugs in India.
The North Chicago-based drug giant said the move to buy Piramal’s
Healthcare Solutions business allows Abbott to tap into the
second-largest country and one of the fastest growing markets in the
world. Pharmaceutical sales alone in emerging markets are growing three
times the rate of developed countries, say industry analysts.
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May 19, 2010 at 6:37 p.m.
Filed under:
M&A,
Real estate,
Retail
Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, one of the properties of General Growth. The mall operator said Wednesday that it has replaced some of
its managers. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
Reuters | Mall owner General Growth said it has replaced some of
its managers, in a sign that its focus has switched from exiting
bankruptcy to beefing up operations. “They’re moving from defense to
offense,” Sandler O’Neil analyst Alexander Goldfarb said.
The Chicago-based company has named Michael McNaughton, currently
senior vice president of leasing at Big Box, as head of asset management.
McNaughton, who joined the company in 2001, will replace Sharon Polonia.
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May 19, 2010 at 5:27 p.m.
Filed under:
Airlines,
Chicago executives,
Labor,
M&A
United CEO Glenn Tilton, left, and Continental Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek in Chicago on May 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Associated Press via Forbes | United and Continental named the executives who will oversee integration of the two airlines, which will begin early next month. The comments came Wednesday in regulatory filings and in a message to employees.
They said the integration process will be led by a steering committee of six executives, including Glenn Tilton, the CEO of United parent UAL Corp., and Jeff Smisek, the CEO of Continental. The other executives are chief financial officer Kathryn Mikells and chief administrative officer Pete McDonald from UAL, and CFO Zane Rowe and chief marketing officer Jim Compton of Continental Airlines.
Get the full story: United, Continental name execs to oversee deal.
May 19, 2010 at 1:42 p.m.
Filed under:
Health care,
M&A
Associated Press | Drug and medical device maker Hospira Inc. said it has extended its $145 million tender offer for Javelin Pharmaceuticals Inc., citing unsatisfied conditions of the buyout. The offer, which was scheduled to expire Tuesday, is now extended to June 2.
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May 19, 2010 at 1:29 p.m.
Filed under:
Investing,
M&A,
Restaurants
Dow Jones Newswires | Denny’s Corp. appears to have fought off a bruising challenge for its board seats from a group led by Chicago-based activist investor Oak Street Capital Management. Denny’s shares, which were already down earlier, fell further following
the filing. Shares are now changing hands at $3.09, down 8.9 percent.
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May 19, 2010 at 12:38 p.m.
Filed under:
M&A,
Manufacturing,
Stock activity
From Bloomberg News | Shares of Pactiv Corp., the maker of Hefty bags, hit a 20-month high Wednesday afternoon on talk that Georgia-Pacific and Rank Group had joined bidding for the company.
Read the full story: bloomberg.com
May 18, 2010 at 4:58 p.m.
Filed under:
Airlines,
Chicago executives,
M&A
From Reuters | The CEO of US Airways, Doug Parker, said Tuesday that the airline does not need to merge to survive and that he supports the proposed deal between Continental Airlines and United Airlines.
Get the full story: reuters.com.
May 17, 2010 at 2:06 p.m.
Filed under:
M&A
By Michael Oneal | Shares of Hefty-bag maker Pactiv Corp. shot up 21 percent in early
trading Monday on word that private-equity giant Apollo Management is in talks to buy the Lake Forest-based manufacturer, and
consolidate it with a packaging company Apollo owns in Indiana.
Neither Pactiv nor Apollo would comment on the talks, which were first reported in the Wall Street Journal. A source close to the situation confirmed that discussions between the two companies are underway, although no deal is imminent and obstacles remain to be overcome.
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May 14, 2010 at 7:55 a.m.
Filed under:
Airlines,
M&A
From Reuters | U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told a congressional panel that the United States will take “time that is necessary” to review the planned $3.2 billion merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines. The deal is expected to get approval from the Justice Department since there is little overlap of common routes
and no shared hubs, though some divestiture could be required.
Get the full story: reuters.com
May 12, 2010 at 5:53 p.m.
Filed under:
China,
International,
Jobs/employment,
Labor,
M&A
From Reuters | Jim Owens, the chairman and chief executive of Caterpillar, warned against regulations that might prevent Chinese and
other overseas companies from buying U.S. businesses. Owens said on Wednesday that efforts to discourage cross-border deals, like China National Offshore Oil Corp’s derailed effort to take over U.S. oil firm Unocal Oil back in 2005, made it more difficult for U.S. companies to invest in overseas markets.
Get the full story: reuters.com.
