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To: Mr. Jens Tingleff who wrote (162)	5/17/1999 12:28:00 PM
From: Negrilsand	Respond to of 212

I agree Accumulate is the word.. I love this 2 3/4 just a nip more and I am in 2k shares more.. However CNBC caught my attention this morning.... CAS is this the competition in agriculture. _----------------------------------------------------- New Holland To Buy Case For $4.3 Billion By Brad Dorfman CHICAGO (Reuters) - European farming and construction equipment maker New Holland NV (NYSE:NH - news) has agreed to acquire U.S. rival Case Corp. (NYSE:CSE - news) for about $4.3 billion in cash, the companies said Monday. The deal would create a company that will rival Deere & Co. as the world's largest maker of tractors, combines and other agricultural equipment. But the acquisition of Racine, Wis.-based Case comes as demand in North America for farm equipment has been hammered by falling commodity prices. The combination of the two companies, which would have had $11.8 billion in sales in 1998, also creates the third-largest producer of construction equipment in the world, behind No. 2-ranked Komatsu Ltd. of Japan and well behind No. 1 Caterpillar Inc. . ''We are creating a new company with an extraordinary range of products and services that will meet the needs of more customers around the world than any other equipment company, while also capturing the significant synergies of a company of this scale and scope,'' said Case Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jean-Pierre Rosso, who will hold those posts at the combined company, in a statement. Under the agreement, New Holland will pay $55 a share for Case's outstanding stock, a 23 percent premium over Friday's closing price. Case shares were up $3.875 at $48.6875 Monday in composite New York Stock Exchange trading, after rising earlier by as much as $6.00 from Friday's close to an intraday high of $50.8125. In contrast, New Holland's shares were down $1.8125 to $15.75 a share, not far off their intraday low Monday of $15.50 in composite NYSE activity.. New Holland will offer $2 billion in new equity to cover part of the deal, with the rest of the price covered with new debt, Rosso said during a conference call. The deal will lead to a $2 billion write-off over 20 years for goodwill, Rosso said. Because of the new debt, the deal will cut earnings for the first two years, he added. The deal will require approval by U.S. and European regulators, but Rosso said he was confident the deal would be cleared. ''Clearly, we would not have entered this if it was not achievable,'' Rosso said. ''We are pretty confident we have a good plan.'' Still, concerns about timing of the approvals may have been holding Case's stock price below the value of the deal, one analyst said. ''I guess there's some sense you're not going to get the cash until September, October, November,'' Thomas Burns Jr., analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, said. He added that New Holland might have to sell off some businesses to appease regulators. New Holland's headquarters will move from The Netherlands to Case's Wisconsin home of Racine, just south of Milwaukee. New Holland CEO Umberto Quadrino will become co-chairman for an unspecified transition period. The two companies said they expect to see $400 million to $500 million in annual cost savings in three to four years through integrated production, purchasing and support activities. Analysts said that Case's line of larger tractors and other equipment, tailored for North America's market, would be a good fit with New Holland's line of smaller machines, which are preferred in Europe. On the construction side, the two companies also complement each other geographically. New Holland will be able to use Case's distribution network to facilitate a recent expansion in that market. As part of the deal, Italy's Fiat SpA will retain 71 percent ownership of the company, which will technically be a new firm