Investors got an M&A treat Monday that offered two different views of the
financial food chain in the pharmaceutical sector, a big fish ate a little
fish, and in the energy sector, a big fish ate … well, another pretty big
fish. The big news of the day was the pairing of North America's largest
natural gas pipeline operators through Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP 's
(NYSE: KMP ) $21 billion acquisition announced Sunday of El Paso Corp. (NYSE:
EP ). While natural gas prices have been in retreat from $4.40 per million Btu
(MMBtu) at the end of July to just $3.54 per MMBtu last week more energy
companies are hitting the shale fields to capture what's expected to be a
growing source of energy throughout the continent for the next few years.
According to Reuters , Kinder Morgan will buy El Paso at a 37% premium to its
Oct. 14 value. On the first trading day following the deal, EP stock took a
roughly 25% booster shot, from 19.59 at Friday's close to $24.45 at Monday's
end. However, El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE: EPB ) fell 10.05% to $3.82.
Everything Kinder shined, with KMP stock ending the day up 5.08% at $75.14,
Kinder Morgan Management (NYSE: KMR ) up 5.28% to $65.76 and Kinder Morgan Inc.
(NYSE: KMI ) up 4.83% to $28.19. More quietly heralded on Monday was European
pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG's $230 million purchase of American
small-cap Anadys Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ANDS ). The acquisition was made to
bolster the Swiss company's presence in the Hepatitis C medicine market, as
well as to help it move into treatment of more widespread diseases. While Roche
already produces Pegasys, which totaled $1.5 billion in sales in 2010, Anadys'
experimental drug Setrobuvir has shown promise and could be another way to treat
the 180 million-plus people globally suffering from hepatitis. Roche, which
trades primarily on the SIX Swiss Exchange, was down 0.77% Monday. The real
winners were Anadys shareholders, who saw this particular investment gain 253%
(to $3.67), just by waking up in the morning. In the run-up to Apple 's
(NASDAQ: AAPL ) earnings report, due out Tuesday after the bell, AAPL shares
slid about half a percent to $419.99. This movement came despite a report out
Monday that Apple had sold 4 million iPhone 4S units in just three days ,
crushing even the paces of previous blockbuster sales for the iPhone 3G, iPhone
3GS and iPhone 4. Three Up Walgreen (NYSE: WAG ) was up 2.7% (89 cents) to
$33.89. China Unicom (NYSE: CHU ) was up 2.04% (39 cents) to $19.51. Family
Dollar (NYSE: FDO ) was up 1.69% (92 cents) to $55.32. Three Down Green Mountain
Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR ) was down 10.41% ($9.59) to $82.50. Alcoa (NYSE:
AA ) was down 6.63% (68 cents) to $9.58. Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM ) was
down 6.55% ($1.57) to $22.40. One Down Late Crocs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX ) was down
35.06% ($9.34) to $17.30 in after-hours trading. As of this writing, Kyle
Woodley did not own a position in any of the aforementioned stocks.
No comments:
Post a Comment