U.S. Indexes Edge Higher; Danaher, Beckman Coulter in $6.8 Billion Deal

Bikram Pandey
07 Feb, 2011
New York City

U.S. stocks inched higher as merger deals of more than $13 billion were announced. Danaher agreed to acquire Beckman Coulter for $6.8 billion and Chesapeake Energy said it will sell its Fayetteville shale asset for $5 billion. AOL agreed to pay $315 million for the blogger The Huffington Post.

[R]9:35 AM New York – U.S. stocks inched higher as merger deals of more than $20 billion were announced. Danaher agreed to acquire Beckman Coulter for $6.8 billion and Chesapeake Energy said it will sell its Fayetteville shale asset for $5 billion. AOL agreed to pay $315 million for the blogger The Huffington Post.[/R]

U.S. stocks trade higher as Monday merger fever takes over and European markets gain. Markets in Asia generally trade higher after most markets reopen after Lunar New Year holiday.

Nokia traded up 2.5% after it announced a management shakeup. Berkshire Hathaway also announced to acquire the remaining 19.9% of Wesco Financial shares.

Danaher to Acquire Beckman Coulter

Danaher Corp agreed to acquire lab-equipment maker Beckman Coulter Inc for $6.8 billion that includes cash and net debt. The company will begin tender offer within seven days.

Beckman Coulter generated $3.3 billion in revenues in 2009 and will be merged with Danaher’s Life Science division that earned revenues in 2010 of $2.3 billion.

Beckman Coulter surged 10% in the pre-market trading and Danaher gained 1%.

Pride International and Ensco Agree to $7 Billion Deal

Two offshore oil drillers agreed to merge and create the second largest global offshore driller with 74 rigs of which 21 will be deepwater rigs.

Under the proposed merger deal Pride International shareholders will received in the newly formed company of 0.4778 share which will retain the Ensco name and $15.60 in cash with a total value of $41.60.

AOL Bets on Huffington Post

AOL agreed to acquire news aggregator The Huffington Post for $315 million. The deal agreed on Sunday night and released on early Monday is likely to bring vast network of advertisers to a news site that is attracting nearly 25 million visitors a month.

AOL agreed to pay $300 million in cash and $15 million in stock and will consolidate its news aggregation and other content under the Huffington Post. The co-founder Arianna Huffington will retain control of the editorial content and will be appointed as president of newly created Huffington Post Media Group.

Huffington Post will also oversee Moviefone and MapQuest and also consolidate its local and regional and financial news content.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said despite the challenges on trade balance and inflation “8.6% economic growth is quiet encouraging.” Central Statistical Organisation today released its first estimate of the GDP growth of 8.6% compared to 8% increase in the previous fiscal year.

In European trading stocks edged lower after Germany reported a decline in orders. Factory orders fell 3.4% in December from November and rose 19.7% from a year ago month. Orders in November increase 5.2% and was the fifth monthly increase in a row according to a statement from the Economic Ministry in Berlin.

Domestic orders fell 2.4% in December and foreign orders fell 4.2% in the month.

Earnings Review

Switzerland based Julius Baer Group Ltd said net income in 2010 fell to Sfr353 million from Sfr389 million a year ago and the private banking group announced a plan to purchase as much as 5% of its stock or Sfr500 million of shares.

Sysco declined more than 4% after it reported 5.5% drop in operating profit and Hasbro declined 4% after it reported net in the fourth quarter of $140 million or 99 cents a share.