Alibaba to Raise $15 B in IPO; Sears, CBS, Chesapeake to Spin Off Units

Mukesh Buch
17 Mar, 2014
New York City

CBS plans to spin off its outdoor advertising unit. CHS agreed to acquire selected Canadian retail assets of Crop Production Services. Chesapeake to separate its oilfield services business. Sears board approved to spin-off its Lands'' End business.

[R]11:30 AM New York – CBS plans to spin off its outdoor advertising unit. CHS agreed to acquire selected Canadian retail assets of Crop Production Services. Chesapeake to separate its oilfield services business. Sears board approved to spin-off its Lands'' End business.[/R]

CBS Corporation ((CBS)) gained 1.2% or 79 cents to $66.16 after the media company plans to offer 20 million shares in its initial public offering of CBS Outdoor Americas Inc, The offering is expected to price between $26 and $28 per share.

CHS Inc ((CHS)) fell 10 cents to $30.25 after the agricultural company agreed to acquire selected 16 Canadian retail assets from Crop Production Services (Canada) Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Agrium, Inc.

The deal is expected close by April 1 and terms were not disclosed.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation ((CHK)) slid 7 cents to $24.96 after the gas and oil explorer filed with the financial regulator for a possible spin-off of its oilfield services business.

Five Prime Therapeutics Inc surged 20.3% or $3.81 to $22.56 after the clinical-stage biotechnology company signed agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co to discover, develop and commercialize immuno-oncology therapies.

Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc ((ICPT)) declined 3.7% or $17.46 to $444.80 after the biopharmaceutical company said its experimental drug for liver disease in a third-stage clinical trial was effective.

Sears Holdings Corp ((SHLD)) increased 1.5% or 70 cents to $44.71 after the specialty retailer’s board approved the separation of its Lands'' End business.

Sears shareholders will get about 0.3 shares of Lands’ End common stock per Sears share. The distribution is expected to occur on April 4.

Lands’ End will be listed under the symbol “LE” on the Nasdaq trading system.

Yahoo! Inc ((YHOO)) jumped 3.2% or $1.21 to $38.79 after the China-based e-commerce site operator Alibaba is preparing to list its initial public offering in New York.

Yahoo controls 24% stake in the ecommerce platform and Japan based SoftBank controls 4.9%.

Alibaba said it would start the process of IPO on the New York Stock Exchange later this year to raise approximately $15 billion, the largest U.S. public offering in nearly two years.