What You Need To Know This Week — November 2nd, 2019
What You Need To Know This Week
A weekly recap to keep you informed on the most important events this week impacting markets, business, tech and the global economy.
FITBIT TO BE ACQUIRED BY GOOGLE FOR $2.1 BILLION
Smartwatch maker Fitbit announced its sale to Google for $7.35 cash per share, representing a deal value of $2.1 billion and a premium of nearly 71%. Fitbit shares had skyrocketed in price over the past few days as media speculated on the potential sale, although Fitbit is being acquired at a -63% discount to its $20.00 IPO price from 2015.
FRENCH LUXURY GIANT LVMH MAKES PLAY FOR TIFFANY & CO.
Jewelry company Tiffany & Co. has received an unsolicited takeover proposal from French Luxury company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. LVMH proposed acquiring Tiffany at $120 cash per share, representing a premium of 22% and a deal value of $14.5 billion. Tiffany is expected to reject the proposal, holding out for more cash.
CANFOR STRIKES $980 MILLION FRIENDLY DEAL AT SAME PRICE AS PREVIOUS UNSOLICITED OFFER
Forestry company Canfor has agreed to a friendly $980 million acquisition by B.C. billionaire Jim Pattison at $16.00 per share, representing the same price as he previously publicly announced. Mr. Pattison already owns 51% of Canfor. The bid comes amidst a forestry industry slump, with low pulp and lumber prices.
FEDERAL RESERVE CUTS RATES AS BANK OF CANADA HOLDS STEADY
The Federal Reserve reduced interest rates by 0.25% for the third time this year. While taking their benchmark interest rate for the target range of 1.50–1.75%, the Fed indicated that its easing cycle may be over. Meanwhile, the Bank of Canada maintained its key interest rate at 1.75% but introduced an easing bias, indicating they may lower rates in the future.
Recommended Articles, Podcasts, Books and Tweets
Listen to Gregory Zuckerman, author of “The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution”, discuss hedge fund firm Renaissance Technologies on Bloomberg’s Masters in Business podcast.
Steve Cohen’s Point72 led fitness startup Mirror’s $34 million Series B financing. He recently joined the company’s board of directors.
An asset manager’s “radical idea” to not charge management fees but only charge performance fees. Fortunately, there’s a firm that already does this!
The U.S. added more jobs than expected in October with non-farm payrolls rising by 128,000, solidly above analyst expectations of 89,000.
Softbank’s Vision Fund was spending $1 billion per week on investments.
AT&T bows to activist Elliott Management’s pressure and agrees to add two new board members.
Institutional Investor looks inside the wacky world of publicly-traded business development companies (BDCs), highlighting the tribulations and insider dealing at Medley Capital.
Shortseller Jim Chanos’s hedge fund Kynikos had one of its best months ever due to timely bets against food delivery company Grubhub and bankrupt utility Pacific Gas and Electric.
Pengrowth Energy, once one of Canada’s largest oil & gas producers, is getting acquired for $0.05 per share, representing a -75% discount to its closing price.
U.S. GDP rose by 1.9% in the third quarter, ahead of analyst expectations of a 1.6% increase.
Saudi Aramco plans to launch its initial public offering on November 3rd.
Waste hauler GFL plans $2.1 billion IPO, the biggest in Canada since 2004.
Catalyst Capital announced that investors holding 28.2% of Hudson’s Bay shares plan on voting against the retailer’s buyout at $10.30 per share.
Beyond Meat shares seared by more than -20% as investors rush for the exits after the IPO lock-ups expired.
Five questions on expectations investing with market strategist Michael Mauboussin.
EU agrees to Brexit extension until January 31, 2020.
Warehouse company Prologis agreed to acquire competitor Liberty Property Trust for $12.6 billion.
Some M&A wisdom from XPO Logistics CEO Bradley Jacobs, who has acquired more than 500 companies.
In a sign of the times, Encana, once Canada’s largest natural gas producer, is changing its name to “Ovintiv” and relocating its headquarters from Calgary to the U.S.
Private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice announced the $3.8 billion leveraged buyout of Anixter International.
An academic study on merger arbitrage states that researchers “find evidence of skill among managers of merger arbitrage hedge funds,” and that “average net-of-fees alpha is 43 basis points per month”.
3iQ’s “the Bitcoin Fund” has received a favourable ruling from the OSC to get its final prospectus for its cryptocurrency closed-end fund issued.
“The ship has turned”. Former CEO of Third Avenue mutual funds thinks that ETFs are a superior vehicle compared to mutual funds.
Accelerate CEO Julian Klymochko is speaking at the “TSX ETF Lunch and Learn Series” in Calgary on November 6th. The event is free for advisors and portfolio managers.
