No insights but can only assume that if another American grain/commodity company like ADM or Cargill buys them it is not good for St Louis in general.DogtownBnR wrote: ↑Oct 30, 2018https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bung ... SKCN1N428R
What does this mean for the future of Bunge NA here in the region? Anyone have some insight?
Post Holdings to spin-off power bar business, to be based in STL:
https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... 11197968C6
https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... 11197968C6
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Small fry, but:
St. Louis vending machine company acquired
"An Ohio-based vending machine company has acquired a St. Louis remanufacturer and supplier of vending machine equipment and parts. Cleveland-based Vendors Exchange International has taken over American Vending Machines, located at 5206 S. 38th Street, effective Nov. 1. Terms of the deal were not disclosed... American Vending Machines has grown from two employees to 20 in its 20 years of business, Hayes said. American Vending had an estimated 1,600 vending machines in stock at the time.
Hayes said all 20 of American Vending Machines’ employees will still stay on staff, and that he will remain with the combined company in a sales role."
St. Louis vending machine company acquired
"An Ohio-based vending machine company has acquired a St. Louis remanufacturer and supplier of vending machine equipment and parts. Cleveland-based Vendors Exchange International has taken over American Vending Machines, located at 5206 S. 38th Street, effective Nov. 1. Terms of the deal were not disclosed... American Vending Machines has grown from two employees to 20 in its 20 years of business, Hayes said. American Vending had an estimated 1,600 vending machines in stock at the time.
Hayes said all 20 of American Vending Machines’ employees will still stay on staff, and that he will remain with the combined company in a sales role."
Bayer to reduce 12,000 jobs worldwide. Here is the press release:
https://media.bayer.com/baynews/baynews ... presskit=1
The most relevant segment for St Louis seems to be:
"around 4,100 positions at Crop Science as the result of integrating the acquired agriculture business;"
which could imply that Bayer is shedding its own (presumably smaller) ag-tech division due to the acquisition of Monsanto.
https://media.bayer.com/baynews/baynews ... presskit=1
The most relevant segment for St Louis seems to be:
"around 4,100 positions at Crop Science as the result of integrating the acquired agriculture business;"
which could imply that Bayer is shedding its own (presumably smaller) ag-tech division due to the acquisition of Monsanto.
A significant number of the job cuts, about 10 percent of Bayer’s 118,200 positions worldwide, would be in Germany, officials said.
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... -from.html
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... -from.html
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I figured even before this announcement, that Bayer would layoff Monsanto employees in an attempt to gain 'synergies'. 4000 in the US could hit STL hard.
Could Bayer have bitten off more than it could chew? Not common to see the acquiring organization layoff tons of people. It is usually the other way around. I bet employees of the other units of Bayer are even angry about the acquisition of Monsanto.
Could Bayer have bitten off more than it could chew? Not common to see the acquiring organization layoff tons of people. It is usually the other way around. I bet employees of the other units of Bayer are even angry about the acquisition of Monsanto.
^ I've not heard anyone say that those 4,000 layoffs for "synergies" will only be in the US. I have heard that Germany will take the brunt of it. Considering Bayer Crop Science is HQ'd in STL now, my guess is most of those "synergies" will come out of Europe. I'm sure some redundant positions will be eliminated in STL but not 4,000 jobs. That would nearly eliminate their entire workforce here and as far as I know that's not their angle.
We'll see, but I think St. Louis will continue to play a big role in Bayer's future.
We'll see, but I think St. Louis will continue to play a big role in Bayer's future.
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I've been under the impression that North Carolina would be taking the brunt of the American layoffs while things consolidate in STL. Maybe I'm just an optimist
Earth observation company Planet plans to acquire Boundless Spatial Inc., a geospatial software specialist, “to accelerate the adoption by government and enterprise customers of commercial geospatial information services,” said Robbie Schingler, Planet co-founder and chief strategy officer. The terms of the deal announced Dec. 18 were not disclosed.
In November 2017, Boundless moved its headquarters to St. Louis. NGA, based in Springfield, Virginia, is preparing to build a new NGA West headquarters in North St. Louis. Planet will retain Boundless’ St. Louis office and “select staff,” according to a press release.
https://spacenews.com/planet-acquires-s ... s-spatial/
In November 2017, Boundless moved its headquarters to St. Louis. NGA, based in Springfield, Virginia, is preparing to build a new NGA West headquarters in North St. Louis. Planet will retain Boundless’ St. Louis office and “select staff,” according to a press release.
https://spacenews.com/planet-acquires-s ... s-spatial/
Just an FYI. McKesson bought St. Louis-based D&K Healthcare in 2005. D&K was a $2.5-billion firm on the F1000 before San Francisco-based McKesson bought it. McKesson is moving to the Dallas area. I've lived in Dallas and it isn't necessarily the "SunBelt". Its weather can be akin to Atlanta's, but Dallas draws so many large relocating firms (Toyota North America, AT&T, etc) and now McKesson.
St. Louis needs to find out what's going on in Dallas.
D&K Healthcare Resources to Be Acquired by McKesson Corporation; D&K Customers Will Gain Access to Expanded Range of Products and Services
McKesson, nation's sixth largest company, is moving corporate HQ from California to Irving
St. Louis needs to find out what's going on in Dallas.
D&K Healthcare Resources to Be Acquired by McKesson Corporation; D&K Customers Will Gain Access to Expanded Range of Products and Services
McKesson, nation's sixth largest company, is moving corporate HQ from California to Irving
Bayer to cut more than 600 positions in suburban Pittsburgh (video)
Bayer has a 15-building campus in Pittsburgh.
The full Bayer statement is as follows:
Bayer has a 15-building campus in Pittsburgh.
The full Bayer statement is as follows:
“For more than 150 years, Bayer has stood for quality and trust, making innovative products in health and nutrition that improve lives and make a contribution to society. Our employees around the globe work every day to find solutions to a growing and aging population.
“With the acquisition of Monsanto completed last year, we doubled the size of our business in the United States to more than $16 billion in sales, and we now employ more than 20,000 people in 300 locations across the country.
“As part of the work to bring our companies together and significantly improve productivity and profitability, Bayer announced in November 2018 that it will reduce 12,000 jobs globally by 2021.
“In the United States, we are beginning to implement this by consolidating administrative functions to best support our agriculture business, which is headquartered in St. Louis, and our healthcare businesses, which are headquartered in Whippany, N.J.
“As a first step toward this consolidation, we are announcing that we will be closing our administrative site in Robinson, PA, and informed employees at this site today. This decision will impact 569 positions and 96 contractors.
“This is certainly a difficult decision given the impact it will have on our colleagues and their families, and the important role the site has played in our company’s history. We have an extremely talented workforce in Robinson and a proud and rich history. We thank our colleagues for their hard work and dedication over the years.
“We will transition the site closing in a thoughtful, orderly manner over a two-year period to provide ample time for employees and operations to transition smoothly and to ensure that we continue to serve our customers and businesses effectively. We are exploring options where key work at the site will be performed.
“We have the utmost appreciation for the employees and their families affected by this decision, and we are committed to treating each employee with dignity and respect throughout this process. We know that changes like this can be uneasy and even a bit stressful for our employees – and for the community. That is why we will honor our commitments and continue to support important groups like non-profits and other charitable organizations in the region at the same level in 2019 and 2020.”
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Former Ralcorp employees to be laid off by TreeHouse. 170 will lose their jobs. Bad for St. Louis and terrible for downtown.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 83215.html
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 83215.html
Looks like an acquisition that would be on the plus side for St. Louis. Centene looks to buy Wellcare
https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... the-latest
https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... the-latest
The view from the other side is always interesting:dredger wrote: ↑Mar 26, 2019Looks like an acquisition that would be on the plus side for St. Louis. Centene looks to buy Wellcare
https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... the-latest
https://www.tampabay.com/breaking-news/ ... -20190327/
Yeah, it is interesting to see things from the other perspective.
BTW, the article projects annual revenue of $97 billion. Not sure if that's right, as Centene posted $60 billion in 2018, while WellCare posted $20 billion for the same period. Either way, Centene's growth continues at a fast pace. More towers should be on the way soon.
BTW, the article projects annual revenue of $97 billion. Not sure if that's right, as Centene posted $60 billion in 2018, while WellCare posted $20 billion for the same period. Either way, Centene's growth continues at a fast pace. More towers should be on the way soon.
^That projection should be accurate since WellCare had two large acquisitions (Meridian Health and Aetna's Medicare Part D business) and Centene had one (Fidelis) all of which closed in the second half of 2018 and wouldn't have been fully reflected in their 2018 numbers.
Kind of, the Post spin-off is arguably as big and successful as the original Ralcorp. Their management team knows how to maximize shareholder value. Unfortunately it is headquartered in a strange spot in Brentwood.
Days after this deal was announced, I’m still somewhat shocked by the lack of local media coverage. \Had the tables been turned and Wellcare bought Centene, we’d have seen the *exact* story below in the STLPD. Heck, STLToday would already have a slide show of “HQs We’ve Lost.”
I think one the most frustrating things about living here is lack of perspective. We fixate on lows and somewhat ignore highs.
Sure, Centene could be bought in the coming months by another company, but, for now, this is great local news.
Centene’s purchase of WellCare Health Plans is a blow to the Tampa Bay area’s clout
The managed healthcare provider was one of the area’s largest companies.
WellCare Health Plans, based in Tampa, is being purchased by St. Louis-based Centene Corp. for nearly $15.3 billion in cash and stock. (Times 2007)
By Graham Brink
Published 2 hours ago
The sale of WellCare Health Plans came as a surprise to many. The announcement sent local officials scrambling to acquaint themselves with Centene Corp., the St. Louis-based company that made the $17 billion deal.
WellCare is — or was — a locally grown success story, like Raymond James Financial or Bloomin’ Brands, the parent of Outback Steakhouse and several other restaurant chains.
Now, the managed healthcare company won’t be headquartered here anymore. It will be absorbed into Centene, which seems to have a solid reputation, as good as any huge company that has been in business for decades.
Still, the deal hurts a little. WellCare was healthy and growing. It had 4,500 local workers, making it one of our largest private-sector employers. The potential was there to grow bigger, create more high-paying jobs.
It’s hard not to think of this as our loss and St. Louis’ gain.
Everyone said the right things Wednesday.
We look forward to getting to know Centene.
WellCare has a lot of talent.
We expect to keep a substantial presence in Tampa.
“Business as usual,” a WellCare vice president promised.
Sure, but that business will be run out of Missouri, not Tampa. Centene CEO Michael Neidorff will continue to head the company, not WellCare CEO Ken Burdick. And WellCare will get just two spots on the 11-member board.
WellCare wasn’t a bruised apple looking for a savior. Its stock price rose nearly 325 percent in the past five years, making it the most valuable publicly traded company based in the Tampa Bay area. It had also gone on its own buying spree in recent years, strengthening its hold in the competitive managed healthcare industry.
The combined Centene company will be a burly player, with about 22 million members, including 12 million Medicaid members and 5 million on Medicare. The number crunchers project $97 billion in annual revenues. That’s close to what Microsoft made in its last fiscal year. It’s more than Wells Fargo reported and significantly more than IBM.
The sides talked about how the purchase will create efficiencies, which can mean many things including job reductions. Best case, Centene looks under the hood and likes what it sees in Tampa. Maybe it even adds jobs here. We might have the right mix of talent, know-how and low taxes.
Even so, our clout got dinged. That’s what happens when a mid-sized metro area loses one of its few large home-grown companies. The deal comes on the heels of two other local biggies getting bought. Canada’s Emera took over TECO, parent to Tampa Electric Co., in 2016. The next year, QVC purchased St. Petersburg’s HSN (Home Shopping Network).
The WellCare deal hurts a little more knowing that we’ve struggled to persuade other corporations to move their headquarters to our area.
We did land Mosaic. The phosphate company moved its headquarters here from Minnesota last year. With WellCare’s sale, Mosaic is one of the Tampa Bay area’s remaining four Fortune 500 companies, along with Tech Data, Jabil and Raymond James.
That WellCare was still around for Centene to buy is a testament to its durability. Twelve years ago, 200 FBI and other agents raided its headquarters. The investigation led to health care fraud charges and the conviction of its CEO and two other executives. Solid management, savvy purchases and a little luck helped it regain its footing.
The company wasn’t nationally known like Hooters, which got started in Clearwater. It never had the name recognition of Publix, nor was it exotic like the treasure hunters at Odyssey Marine Exploration.
But WellCare was ours. Now it’s theirs. And that stings.
Contact Graham Brink at gbrink@tampabay.com. Follow @GrahamBrink.
I think one the most frustrating things about living here is lack of perspective. We fixate on lows and somewhat ignore highs.
Sure, Centene could be bought in the coming months by another company, but, for now, this is great local news.
Centene’s purchase of WellCare Health Plans is a blow to the Tampa Bay area’s clout
The managed healthcare provider was one of the area’s largest companies.
WellCare Health Plans, based in Tampa, is being purchased by St. Louis-based Centene Corp. for nearly $15.3 billion in cash and stock. (Times 2007)
By Graham Brink
Published 2 hours ago
The sale of WellCare Health Plans came as a surprise to many. The announcement sent local officials scrambling to acquaint themselves with Centene Corp., the St. Louis-based company that made the $17 billion deal.
WellCare is — or was — a locally grown success story, like Raymond James Financial or Bloomin’ Brands, the parent of Outback Steakhouse and several other restaurant chains.
Now, the managed healthcare company won’t be headquartered here anymore. It will be absorbed into Centene, which seems to have a solid reputation, as good as any huge company that has been in business for decades.
Still, the deal hurts a little. WellCare was healthy and growing. It had 4,500 local workers, making it one of our largest private-sector employers. The potential was there to grow bigger, create more high-paying jobs.
It’s hard not to think of this as our loss and St. Louis’ gain.
Everyone said the right things Wednesday.
We look forward to getting to know Centene.
WellCare has a lot of talent.
We expect to keep a substantial presence in Tampa.
“Business as usual,” a WellCare vice president promised.
Sure, but that business will be run out of Missouri, not Tampa. Centene CEO Michael Neidorff will continue to head the company, not WellCare CEO Ken Burdick. And WellCare will get just two spots on the 11-member board.
WellCare wasn’t a bruised apple looking for a savior. Its stock price rose nearly 325 percent in the past five years, making it the most valuable publicly traded company based in the Tampa Bay area. It had also gone on its own buying spree in recent years, strengthening its hold in the competitive managed healthcare industry.
The combined Centene company will be a burly player, with about 22 million members, including 12 million Medicaid members and 5 million on Medicare. The number crunchers project $97 billion in annual revenues. That’s close to what Microsoft made in its last fiscal year. It’s more than Wells Fargo reported and significantly more than IBM.
The sides talked about how the purchase will create efficiencies, which can mean many things including job reductions. Best case, Centene looks under the hood and likes what it sees in Tampa. Maybe it even adds jobs here. We might have the right mix of talent, know-how and low taxes.
Even so, our clout got dinged. That’s what happens when a mid-sized metro area loses one of its few large home-grown companies. The deal comes on the heels of two other local biggies getting bought. Canada’s Emera took over TECO, parent to Tampa Electric Co., in 2016. The next year, QVC purchased St. Petersburg’s HSN (Home Shopping Network).
The WellCare deal hurts a little more knowing that we’ve struggled to persuade other corporations to move their headquarters to our area.
We did land Mosaic. The phosphate company moved its headquarters here from Minnesota last year. With WellCare’s sale, Mosaic is one of the Tampa Bay area’s remaining four Fortune 500 companies, along with Tech Data, Jabil and Raymond James.
That WellCare was still around for Centene to buy is a testament to its durability. Twelve years ago, 200 FBI and other agents raided its headquarters. The investigation led to health care fraud charges and the conviction of its CEO and two other executives. Solid management, savvy purchases and a little luck helped it regain its footing.
The company wasn’t nationally known like Hooters, which got started in Clearwater. It never had the name recognition of Publix, nor was it exotic like the treasure hunters at Odyssey Marine Exploration.
But WellCare was ours. Now it’s theirs. And that stings.
Contact Graham Brink at gbrink@tampabay.com. Follow @GrahamBrink.
I think there is some trepidation around "will they get the deal done" and "what kind of pushback will come from regulators". And the Centene management obviously isn't going to have any soundbites or narrative of "this is great for St. Louis" since they're going to be sensitive to the employees/business community in Tampa.soulardx wrote: Days after this deal was announced, I’m still somewhat shocked by the lack of local media coverage.
This is indeed a huge acquisition, the biggest by a St. Louis company in 7 years. And like Express Scripts' acquisition of Medco, this is going to take Centene to a entirely new level, more in the mix with Humana, and to a lesser extent Cigna and Anthem. Importantly, particularly to the stability and security of Centene sticking around for a while, this increase in scale makes Centene a less likely acquisition target. Back in 2015-16 a series of proposed mergers in the sector (Aetna with Humana and Anthem with Cigna) were blocked by anti-trust regulators. Centene's increased scale will not only make them much more expensive (which didn't keep Express Scripts from getting bought), but also puts them more in that anti-trust protected mix.
Additionally, Cigna is dealing with its (unfortunate for St. Louis and potentially unfortunate for Cigna) mammoth acquisition of Express Scripts and Aetna was recently swallowed by CVS, which takes them both out of the mix of potential acquirers for the time being.
All-in-all it's a really good thing for the continued development of the Centene HQ (which I don't think was ever in question), Clayton and St. Louis as a whole (back in the Fortune top 50!), and because of the state and nature of the industry it could have more corporate HQ staying power than say, Express Scripts. Really the current primary existential threat to Centene is political - the continued attempts by some Republican law makers to abolish the Affordable Care Act.
Here's a good example of the benefits of having major corporate HQs in town. Centene is donating $100 million dollars to the Wash. U Medical school for research purposes:
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/met ... 5a4b4.html
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/met ... 5a4b4.html
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In an interesting twist, Post Holdings will acquire the former Ralcorp from Treehouse. Hopefully, those jobs that were to be lost with the office closing, will remain!
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... MifQ%3D%3D
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... MifQ%3D%3D
Hopefully they move the whole operation Downtown and out of that odd office park in Brentwood. Post has been killing it since they were spun off.DogtownBnR wrote: In an interesting twist, Post Holdings will acquire the former Ralcorp from Treehouse. Hopefully, those jobs that were to be lost with the office closing, will remain!
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... MifQ%3D%3D
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I believe Post proposed a new HQ building in
Hanley Industrial Ct.
https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... 7ce59.html
Hanley Industrial Ct.
https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... 7ce59.html
^ Unfortunately that is no longer on the table as far as I know. Though it may come back with this acquisition.
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... local.html
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... local.html