Charter to Buy Bright House for $10.4 B; Endurance to Acquire Montpelier

Mukesh Buch
31 Mar, 2015
New York City

Charter agreed to acquire Bright House for $10.4 billion. CBRE agreed to buy Johnson Controls

[R]1:00 PM New York – Charter agreed to acquire Bright House for $10.4 billion. CBRE agreed to buy Johnson Controls’ global workplace solutions business for about $1.48 billion. Endurance agreed to acquire Montpelier for $1.8 billion. Movado net jumped.[/R]

Tollbooth Index slid 0.05% or 4.93 to 10,518.48.

Earnings Review

AES Corp ((AES)) rose 3 cents to $12.77 after the diversified power generation and utility equipment provider plans to offer senior notes maturing in 2025 for aggregate principal amount of $575 million.

Separately, the company announced the tender offers to buy for cash up to $500 million aggregate principal amount of its various outstanding senior notes due 2017, 2020 and 2021.

Conn''s, Inc ((CONN)) climbed 4.7% or $1.34 to $30.01 after the consumer goods retailer reported revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in January soared 18.2% to $426.7 million from a year ago period.

Comparable store sales in the quarter increased 1.3%

Net income in the quarter tumbled 44% to $15.5 million or 42 cents per diluted share compared to $27.7 million or 75 cents from the same quarter last year.

Charter Communications, Inc ((CHTR)) soared 7.2% or $13.26 to $196.65 after the cable services provider agreed to acquire, smaller Florida-based rival, Bright House Networks LLC, digital cable television, video-on-demand services provider in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $10.4 billion.

CBRE Group Inc jumped 4.8% or $1.75 to $38.16 after the real estate services provider agreed to buy Johnson Controls Inc’s global workplace solutions business for about $1.48 billion in cash.

The company and Johnson Controls also announced a 10-year strategic relationship where CBRE will provide Johnson Controls with a suite of integrated corporate real estate services.

The transaction is expected to close in the late third quarter or early fourth quarter.

Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd declined 4.5% or $2.92 to $61.38 after the Bermuda-based property and casualty insurance company agreed to acquire Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd for about $1.83 billion in cash and stock to expand its reinsurance business.

The offer price is valued at $40.24 per share based on closing price on March 30 and the deal consist $450 million in cash and 21.5 million Endurance ordinary shares that valued for about $1.4 billion.

Movado Group, Inc ((MOV)) surged 14.2% or $3.65 to $29.28 after the jewelry-watch maker said net sales in the fourth-quarter ending in January increased 1.2% to $133.9 million from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter soared 39.8% to $10.05 million or 40 cents per diluted share compared to $7.19 million or 28 cents from the same quarter last year.

The company forecasted net sales for the fiscal 2016 to climb in the range of $590 million to $600 million and net income between $48.5 million and $51.0 million and earnings per share in the range of $2 to $2.10.

Science Applications International Corp ((SAIC)) declined 6.8% or $3.76 to$51.94 after the scientific, engineering, and technology applications developer stated total revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in January rose 1.2% to $952 million from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter climbed 9.1% to $36 million or 75 cents per diluted share compared to $33 million or 66 cents from the same quarter last year.