TRB: One Step Closer

The FCC, which is moving at a snail-like pace, indicated today that they will try to have a vote on the Tribune (TRB) acquisition by the end of Friday. The stock is still nowhere near the acquisition price of $34. If the FCC waiver is granted by Friday, the last remaining step is for the bankers to raise money for the deal.

On another note, I have noticed that the spreads on takeovers have widened again. Almost sure-bets like BCE (BCE; TSX: BCE) have dropped recently. Other bids worth monitoring are Clear Channel (CCU) and Credit First Boston (CBH). I haven't evaluated any of them deeply (except when I mentioned BCE in some posts several months ago) so none of these are concrete ideas. If I recall, all these deals close next year so if you like the prospects then you need to be willing to tie up your capital until next year. Given that December sometimes involves heavy tax-loss selling, it may be more attractive to buy beaten-down stocks instead of going for merger arbitrage deals.

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 10, 2008 at 2:32 PM

    I use www.madmergers.com to get all of my merger data. I used to search through all of the news to get it, and it took me forever! Now it just takes a second. I love it!!!

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