Since this is about collaboration what do folks feel about this potential buy in anticipation of takeover with div kicker?
Avon (AVP) is in play as a takeover. They rebuffed earlier offers but now bidder has upped the ante and revealed some of their backing is from Buffett. So I am interested in that perspective but also tomorrow is ex- div date (more below). Seems like if a trader felt like they may accept bid this would be a win win? even though tues in theory share price would drop by div amount the story here might counteract a lot of that as it floats up on speculation of acceptance of the current bid?
Ps market certaily pricing shares with a very juandiced eye toward this deal actually getting done. Much of this no doubt based on earlier reaction from avaon to their bid.
NEW YORK -- The ex-dividend date for Avon Products (NYSE: AVP) is tomorrow, May 15, 2012. Owners of shares as of market close today will be eligible for a dividend of 23 cents per share. At a price of $21.04 as of 9:30 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 4.4%.
5/14/2012 @ 10:06AM |1,826 views Avon Now Considering Takeover Offer From Coty
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Warren Avon Rejects Coty's $10B Takeover Bid, Shares Jump Nearly 20%
Avon Products is asking Coty Inc. for another week to consider its takeover offer, in a surprise decision by the beleaguered beauty company.
Coty had set today as the deadline for Avon to accept its $10.7 billion deal or it would bow out. It’s not immediately clear whether Coty will grant the extension.
A Coty spokeswoman did not immediately return a FORBES request for comment.
Shares of Avon popped 5% in early morning trading to $21.22.
Before today, Avon seemed uninterested in Coty’s offer, at one point calling it stingy and misguided. Avon maintained that the best way for it to regain investors’ confidence was through a strategic review under new CEO Sheri McCoy.
Then, last Thursday, Coty upped its offer from $23.50 to $24.75 a share, a 15% premium over the previous closing price.
Coty has also insisted on seeing Avon’s books, hoping to receive a fuller understanding of Avon’s predicament. The beauty company is embroiled in a years-long sales slump and facing a Chinese bribery investigation. It has been left behind by rivals like Revlon, Elizabeth Arden, Estee Lauder and Colgate-Palmolive.
“Because Avon still remains in a very tenuous position, attempting to turnaround this struggling business outside of the public domain has its advantages, although any [deal] is far from a guarantee right now,” says Morningstar analyst Erin Lash.
Lash points out that Avon’s new-found interest may lure other bidders now, like privately held Richmont Holdings which led the management buyout of cosmetics maker Mary Kay in the 1980s. |
