Alaska Air to Buy Virgin America, Brocade Acquires Ruckus

Mukesh Buch
04 Apr, 2016
New York City

Alaska Air agreed to acquire Virgin America for about $2.6 billion. Brocade agreed to acquire small rival Ruckus Wireless in a cash and stock transaction of about $1.5 billion. Blackstone Group agreed to buy India-based Mphasis from Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co for $1.1 billion.

[R]12:00 PM New York – Alaska Air agreed to acquire Virgin America for about $2.6 billion. Brocade agreed to acquire small rival Ruckus Wireless in a cash and stock transaction of about $1.5 billion. Blackstone Group agreed to buy India-based Mphasis from Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co for $1.1 billion.[/R]

Tollbooth Index slipped 60.60 or 0.6% to 10,813.86.

Earnings Review

Alaska Air Group Inc ((ALK)) declined 5.1% or $4.17 to $77.84 after the airlines company agreed to acquire Virgin America Inc for $2.6 billion to create the fifth-largest U.S. airline and to be a number one carrier in the U.S. West Coast.

Alaska confirmed it might continue to use the same brand “Virgin America” in some form.

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc ((BRCD)) tumbled 15.5% or $1.65 to $8.99 after the network equipment maker agreed to acquire Wi-Fi products maker Ruckus Wireless Inc for $14.43 per share and a total buyout value of about $1.5 billion.

Under the terms, shareholders of Ruckus will receive $6.45 in cash and 0.75 shares of Brocade stock per share owned.

The board of directors boosted its share repurchase program by $800 million and increased the total authorization to about $1.7 billion.

Ruckus Wireless Inc stock in New York Stock Exchange surged 30.6% to $13.05.

Blackstone Group LP ((BX)) fell 5 cents to $28.06 after the investment company agreed to acquire India-based outsourcing services provider Mphasis Ltd from Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co for up to $1.1 billion.

Uniqure NV ((QURE)) jumped 4.8% or 62 cents to $13.37 after the Netherlands-based pharmaceutical company said total revenues in the year ending in December doubled from a year ago to $9.43 million.

Net loss in the year widened to $71.5 million or $3.24 per diluted share compared to $37 million or $2.16 per share from the same quarter last year.