It’s Baacckkkkk - Merger Mondays are Back
Britain’s Prudential (PUK) is buying AIG’s (AIG) Asian life insurance unit for $35.5 billion in cash and stock. The acquisition will be financing by $20 billion that will be raised through a cash call. This is a large amount of money and PUK is down 14% on the news. AIG is rising 6%.
The German-based Merck is buying biotech instrument maker Millipore (MIL) for $7.2 billion or $107 per share. Millipore’s stock is only up 11% on the news because there were rumor that Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) would buy the company last week as the stock sough alternatives. The stock is up over 50% in less than one month on the takeover rumors and news.
OSI Pharmaceuticals (OSIP) received a hostile takeover bid from Japan’s Astellas Pharmaceutical worth about $3.5 billion. The stock is up over 50% on the news, trading at the best level since 2005. Astellas wants access to OSIP’s cancer drug and the royalties they collect off the drug as well as the pipeline at the company. I expect more deals in the biotech sector in the coming year. The biotech ETFs are rallying big on the news: PBE, XBI, IBB, BBH.
RiskMetrics Group (RISK) is being bought by MSCI (MXB) in a deal worth $1.55 billion. RISK is trading higher by 13% as MXB’s stock is falling 5%. | 
