Associated Press | Germany’s Merck KGaA said Sunday that it will
pay $6 billion in cash to buy U.S. biotech equipment maker Millipore
Corp. in a move to expand its presence beyond drugs and chemicals and
into the life science sector. The deal ends more than a week of
speculation over Millipore’s future.
Shares of the Billerica, Mass., company soared last week after reports
said lab instrument maker Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. had made a $6
billion offer. Millipore, which supplies tests and equipment to the
biotechnology industry, then confirmed that it was evaluating strategic
alternatives — including a possible sale.
Associated Press | Shopping mall operator General Growth Properties
Inc. says it has reached a deal with Canadian property manager
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. that will enable General Growth to
exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
General Growth said
Wednesday Brookfield will invest $2.5 billion in cash in exchange for
General Growth shares, giving Brookfield a 30 percent stake in the
Chicago-based company. General Growth says shareholders would receive a
total of $15 a share as part of the plan.
Dow Jones Newswires | Pactiv Corp. added 10 million shares to its share-buyback effort.
The company also announced the planned $200 million purchase of PWP
Industries, whose products include containers, trays and bottles. It
had 2009 revenue of about $140 million. The purchase, set to close this
quarter, is expected to “modestly” add to Pactiv’s 2010 earnings.
Associated Press | Dutch company Spyker Cars NV said Tuesday
that it has completed its $74 million purchase of loss-making Swedish
carmaker Saab Automobile AB from General Motors Inc.
Spyker company says the deal announced last month is final and ownership of Saab has been transferred.
Dow Jones Newswires-WSJ | Canadian property giant Brookfield
Asset Management Inc. is readying a bid to take a large stake in U.S.
mall owner General Growth Properties Inc., according to several people
familiar with the matter, aiming to top an unsolicited bid made last
week by mall rival Simon Property Group Inc.
Brookfield’s planned bid, which could be unveiled as soon as this week,
would allow General Growth to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings as
a standalone company, with Brookfield as its largest shareholder, these
people said.
Tribune staff report | Unitrin Inc. said it has reached an
agreement in principle to sell its health insurance subsidiary, Reserve
National Insurance Co. to Physicians Mutual Insurance Co.
Terms of the deal, which has not been finalized, were not disclosed.
The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of
2010.
By Julie Johnsson | TreeHouse Foods Inc. said it intends to sell
$100 million in stock through a public offering to help fund its $660
million acquisition of hot cereal and powdered soft drink mix
manufacturer Sturm Foods.
Westchester-based TreeHouse said it intends to finance the rest of the
deal, which it expects to close on March 2, through a $400 million bond
offering and by drawing down a line of credit.
Dow Jones Newswires | Agrium Inc. again extended the tender
offer to acquire CF Industries Inc. in a deal valued at $5.47 billion,
this time to March 22, saying it remains “fully committed” to buying
the fertilizer company and adding two of its candidates to its board.
Dow Jones Newswires | General Growth Properties is looking to raise up to $2 billion in capital to extract itself from bankruptcy and fend off rival Simon Property Group’s takeover offer, Reuters reported late Thursday, citing an unnamed source.
The Reuters report said Simon went public with its offer for General Growth to begin talks because it feared the Chicago-based company would be able to secure the funds it needs for a bankruptcy exit. General Growth, which has more than 200 malls under its portfolio, filed for bankruptcy in April. Full story:reuters.com
A Walgreen’s employee talks to a customer about a flu shots in Manhattan. (AP Photo/Yanina Manolova, file)
By Bruce Japsen and Sandra M. Jones | Walgreen Co is buying regional drugstore operator Duane Reade Holdings Inc, New York City’s biggest pharmacy chain, in a move that fulfills Walgreen’s longstanding ambition to dominate the nation’s largest metropolitan market.
The Deerfield-based drug store giant agreed to acquire Duane Reade from private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners in a deal valued at $1.075 billion. The purchase price includes $618 million in cash and the assumption of $457 million in Duane Reade debt.
Associated Press | Itasca-based insurance brokerage Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. said Tuesday that it bought a Brazilian reinsurance broker for an undisclosed amount.
Securitas Re, based in Sao Paulo, was purchased from Estater Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Business Journal of Milwaukee | TreeHouse Foods Inc., the Westchester-based maker of pickles, creamer and sauces, said it plans to offer $400 million in debt to raise money for its $660 million acquisition of Sturm Foods Inc. of Manawa, Wis.
Water Tower Place-owner General Growth Properties Inc.’s April 2009 bankruptcy was the biggest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history. (Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune)
By Sandra M. Jones | Simon Property Group Inc., the nation’s largest mall operator, offered to buy Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc. out of Chapter 11 for more than $10 billion in a deal that would give shareholders – typically left empty handed in bankruptcy reorganization — $9 a share.
The Indianapolis-based company said it sent an offer letter to acquire No. 2 General Growth on Feb. 8 and a follow up letter on Tuesday, but has yet to receive a response. About $9 billion of the bid is in cash.
By Mike Hughlett in Miami | Irene Rosenfeld stood Tuesday before a crowd of Wall Street analysts to declare that Kraft Foods has all but completed the turnaround she laid out to them three years ago.
Rosenfeld was speaking before the annual meeting here of the Consumer Analyst Group of New York. Three years ago, as Kraft’s relatively new chief executive, she used the meeting as a platform to elucidate how the venerable but lumbering company would increase innovation and boost its sales and profits
By Bruce Japsen | Abbott
Laboratories said this morning it has closed on its $6.2 billion
purchase of Solvay Pharmaceuticals of Belgium, giving the North
Chicago-based drug giant access to a larger cholesterol drug franchise
as well as other medicines.
The deal gives Abbott sole control over the cholesterol drug Tricor and
its successor pill TriLipix. That will help add about $2.9 billion to
Abbott’s reported 2010 annual sales.
