[This is the third commentary based on public filings concerning the proposed merger of The Stanley Works and Black & Decker Corporation as well as other publicly available information on the two companies.]
When I first learned of the sale of Black & Decker Corporation (NYSE: BDK) to The Stanley Works (NYSE:SWK) in November of 2009, I was immediately suspicious and wondered how much money Black & Decker executives would be making by selling their own company. For decades now, it has been a growing and, in my opinion, destructive trend in U.S. acquisitions for the buyer to offer large monetary incentives to management of the seller to “influence” a favorable outcome. In an acquisition such as this one that totals over $8 billion of market capitalization for the combined companies, the payments to selling management, even when measured in tens of millions of dollars, can be a small fraction of the transaction value at stake. Read More
Mid-Atlantic Deal Review December 2009
December 2009 – Fourth Quarter 2009 Statistical Review
Mid-Atlantic Deal Review
Editor’s Note: The December edition consists only of a statistical review of 4th Quarter Mid-Atlantic capital markets activity with associated commentary.
Quick Stats from Chessiecap is the most comprehensive and thoroughly researched presentation of Mid-Atlantic transaction data available—Private Placements, M&A and Public Offerings. Mid-Atlantic is defined as D.C., Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia. Private placements include all private equity investment including venture capital, PIPEs, private investors and other forms of new investment. The M&A data are the first to capture true regional activity. 80% of all M&A transactions are “undisclosed,” resulting in almost meaningless analysis. Chessiecap reviews all reported regional transactions and uses its market knowledge to assign probable deal values and uncover secondary sources of deal values. The data below does not capture debt transactions, recapitalizations, non-corporate real estate financings (project financing) or purchases by local companies of companies outside this region.
DEAL DATA: Q4 2009
Mixed results in December cannot undo an anemic Fourth Quarter. Private Placements fell off the table in December, while M&A deals saw a typical year-end spike as companies and bankers push to meet a target that makes accounting easier and bonuses flow. The Public Offering data looks good for December, Read More »