urbanSTL

moorlander wrote:Medco has 1700 employees at their NJ HQ. Anxiously awaiting to see how many move here.

I'm sure Express Scripts is anxiouly waiting to see who offers more tax incentives, NJ to keep their workforce presence from disappearing or MO watering over a sizeable jobs gain.

To change direction,

Talk about a solid solid week for St. Louis. Just a simple roundup

1) Peabody and partner puts in a stong bid for an Australian Coal Company as well as signs onto running a chinese coal mine.

2) Kellwood keeps adding and expanding in the retail. Do we see a downtown future for them, Wash Ave, Railway Exchange, cupples warehouse?

3) Stifel Nichlos taking a serious look at another acquisition - would be another big jump. I can only imagine a taller tower at BPV if this happens. Their must be some behind talks with city and state on BPV going on.

4) Montsanto in partnership talks with the Chinese. This would be a big plus to the region's plant science niche any you look at it. Not only that, these relationships get others from outside of the US to look at the region.

5) Express Scripts going BIG just to finish off the week

My summary won't do justice to what Gone Corporate can put out there. But, you have to wonder what else is in play and what tax incentives passed under a specail can bring to town on top some hometome companies going for the fences.

sticking with the China theme, I think this just about sums it up: http://i35.tinypic.com/1zd6kcm.jpg

^Might not be that bad a thing, could even be an improvement. Perhaps separating from DuPont and Bunge could allow for the company to explore new partnerships they'd have been unable to do before.

A new Solae buyer could be interested in the company for:
- Acquiring the proprietary proteins & formulations, perhaps piecing out the company after;
- Merging with another biotech company, or a vitamin/supplement/food manufacturer seeking protein lines;
- Acquiring a growing biotech company with strong internal growth for private ROI (I'd guess here); or
- Acquiring a growing biotech company to spin it off as a public offering down the line.

I just hope that we keep the human talent that's currently employed there.

Side notes: Privately-held company already, and both Bunge & DuPont are based outside of StL.

Bloomberg story link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-2 ... nture.html

gone corporate wrote:Stifel's amazing me with their hunting prowess...

BizJournals: Stifel To Buy Stone & Youngberg, "a San Francisco-based financial services firm specializing in municipal finance and fixed income securities."
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news ... gberg.html

Meanwhile, first pointed out by the BizJournal's Morning Call blog...

Reuters: Blackstone, Stifel, others eye Morgan Keegan.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/ ... QL20110722

Along with Blackstone, other potential named Private Equity buyers include the Carlyle Group, TPG Capital, Apollo Global Management, and Warburg Pincus. A very likely scenario is that MK's Executive Management is afforded the chance to engage a Management-led Buyout, with one or more PE firms providing the financing. After all, MK was an independent firm before Regions bought them.

Along with Stifel, another potential named Broker/Dealer buyer includes Raymond James.

GC, do you think their latest acquistion moves are influencing what is or should say what is not happening with BVP? I would like to believe that they are going secure MK and then announce a 20-25 story at BPV with groundbreaking by end of year.

Citadel is obviously unhappy with their current 94% loss on E*TRADE and appear to be aggressively attempting to shop the company. I would love to see Scottrade scoop up E*TRADE. The obvious obstacle of being a private company not-withstanding, it would certainly be a great win for STL (metro... ).

Does anyone have any specifics on value for Scottrade? (Once again, difficult due to them being private, I know). Would be another big acquisition (in relative size) for the area.

Talk about being the predator, Kellwood makes Ron @ Stiffel look tame.

Kellwood stretches into yoga apparel with latest acquisition

http://www.stltoday.com/business/column ... 0f31a.html

What is the most likely acquisition?

Is UBS in play for Wells Fargo...or does that even count for STL with it having multiple business groups and hqs.

What are some of the companies that have been rumored to be looking to buy?

Are there any rumors about any companies relocating to St Louis?

^UBS in the market for Wells?

I think Wells is in the market for acquisitions, and would peg about a 0% chance on them being acquired by anyone else. Wells Fargo Advisors (I believe) is hq'd in StL. I would count that as a major financial HQ, for sure. Wells Fargo is Hq'd in San Fran.

As for rumors...

johndavis wrote:What are some of the companies that have been rumored to be looking to buy?

All of the "rumors" are pretty well publicized:

Express Scripts plans to buy Medco for $29.1bil
Kellwood looking for a new, less suburban HQ in the St. Louis area
Schlafly trying to sell itself to its employees
Stifel Nicholaus in the hunt for Morgan Keegan for about $1bil
Ralcorp spinning off Post Cereals and fending off a $4.9bil bid by ConAgra
Post-Dispatch owner Lee Enterprises (Davenport, IA) desperately trying to avoid bankruptcy
Solae being put up for sale by DuPont & Bunge (estimated around $1.5bil)
Arch Coal $3.4bil acquisition of International Coal Group
Peabody & ArcelorMittal $5.1bil offer for Australia's MacArthur Coal
Savvis purchased for $2.5bil by CenturyLink. Savvis HQ will stay in St. Louis
It hasn't received any coverage, but Centrue Bank which moved its HQ to Clayton from Illinois in the last 2 years has recently been delisted from the NASDAQ and in all likelihood is on the FDIC watch list of distressed banks.

For the sake of aimless speculation - I think Belden could be an interesting company to watch. They've made a few of acquisitions and divestitures in the last 2 years, they've been putting up good numbers (although we'll see if that continues tomorrow as they're reporting 2Q earnings), and their stock price is up 35% in the last 52 weeks. The CEO seems receptive to growing through acquisitions when opportunities present themselves.

Also, Energizer is probably going to try to continue to diversify away from batteries however they possibly can. I'd love to see them purchase Combe Inc., but there's no way of knowing if that company is even for sale as it is privately owned.

In other major M&A news, Albert Pujols' contract expires at the end of this year.

Insituform to buy Fyfe's North American business for $115.8 million


http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news ... north.html

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news ... on-in.html

How far away are we from a Suddenlink-Charter M&A?

MattnSTL wrote: Express Scripts will buy rival Medco for $29.1 billion

You hate to see anyone let go, but it's nice to finally be on good end of the stick for once.

could mean hundreds of job cuts in Bergen County, N.J., where Medco has about 2,800 workers and is the third-largest employer — as well as New Jersey's largest public company by revenue....

...estimates that about a third of the operating expenses of the combined entity, which would include headquarters staff, could be eliminated post-merger. "It's going to hit Medco harder," she said. "There's likely to be a bias toward keeping Express Scripts employees versus Medco employees."

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/morn ... e_stl_rdup

dweebe wrote:I was at the Living World at the Zoo the other day and noticed in the main area exibit sections sponsored by May Company, McDonnell Douglas and Anheuser Busch.

Ha! You sure you weren't at the history museum?

gone corporate wrote:Solid Peabody article in the P-D today: http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 85bcf.html

The scale of the Peabody-ArcelorMittal JV acquisition of Macarthur really is incredible. It's focused on metallurgical coal produced by Macarthur's sites in Australia, which are immense. Now, you've got one of the world's preeminent coal companies working directly with a global steel powerhouse, feeding directly to the giant markets of East Asia.

The industry cluster for Coal in STL is one of our most under-recognized strengths; we are for Coal what Houston is for Oil.

Alex: I'd generally agree, but I'm also of the mind that Peabody's commitment to the Gateway One building also has a lot to do with how it is the only office building along the Gateway Mall. The visual impression of seeing the Peabody HQ directly beneath the legs of the Arch could do much for global branding & positioning, both of the company, its perceived significance, and of STL. And with the continued progress for the China Hub, such corporate positioning could be enormous.

Funny how no one bats an eye over a STL company doing business with China in China, but they all freak out for the China Hub, where STL companies will be doing business with China in STL. Not hyprocisy, but full-on naivete bordering on ignorance.

Another significant move in the works are West Coast export coal terminals, if and when Peabody or Arch can make their respective proposals happen. Their is now three proposals in play, all of them in the state of Washington (Cherry Point - north of Seattle, Longview on the Columbia River, and Aberdeen/Grays Harbor on the Coast). Can't recall which proposal goes with what coal company off hand. However, its key for both companies to establish West Coast export terminals for their current and significant reserves of Powder River Coal as their will be a legitimate drop in coal consumption with US power companies shutting down older and smaller coal fired power plants.