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M&A investors leading up to the event will have a busy week with several companies scheduled to report their results.
new relic (NYSE:NEW) is expected to report third-quarter results and host a conference call on Tuesday. In June, the company renewed its board of directors as part of cooperation agreement with activist Jana Partners. In July, Reuters reported that the software company was getting ready to explore a sale. RBC analyst Rishi Jaluria last year identified New Relic as al.likely target for a strategic buyer and analysts said in July that the company could see $60-$80 per share in a possible takeaway.
Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN), often reported as a takeover target, especially after Thermo Fisher walked away from its 2020 acquisition proposal, is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results on Tuesday with a conference call all Wednesday. More recently, Bloomberg reported late last month that Qiagen was considering selling a minority stake in its bioinformatics division, which could value the business at more than $1 billion.
News of the potential bioinformatics sale comes after the WSJ reported in October that diagnostics company Bio-Rad Laboratories (BIO) was in talks with competitor Qiagen to merge. Bloomberg reported in November 2021 that Qiagen (QGEN) attracted buying interest from French diagnostics company bioMérieux.
Investors are likely to be watching Emerson Corp. (EMR) results on Wednesday, as the company is in the midst of a $7 billion takeover bid for electronic equipment maker National Instruments (NASDAQ:NATI). Although Emerson (EMR) initially said that he planned to nominate directors to the NATI board, he has since said that he will not and that he will participate in Emerson’s strategic review process.
Fortive (FTV), Keysight (KEYS) and Honeywell (HON) are also said to be interested in an acquisition of National Instruments (NATI), according to a Dealreporter article from last month.
Also available for profit this week is CVS Health (CVS), which is reportedly exploring an acquisition of Oak Street Health (OSH), and is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results on Wednesday. CVS is also said to have had exclusive talks to acquire Cano Health (CANO) in October, though CVS has reportedly walked away from the discussions.
While Bloomberg initially reported CVS (CVS) interest in a $10 billion purchase of Oak Street (OSH) primary care operator last month, sending shares up 27% on Jan. Stock pulled back a bit on Jan. 17 when the Axios report said a takeover by CVS was unlikely.
CVS Health (CVS) CEO Karen Lynch said last month that the company will continue to look for additional assets, including primary care capabilities.
Primary care “is an asset that we think we want in our portfolio,” Lynch said at the JPMorgan healthcare conference last month.
On the special situations front Spectrum Brands (New York Stock Exchange:SPBHe is expected to provide a status update to the court on Monday regarding his negotiations with the US Department of Justice over the planned sale of its door hardware unit to Assa Abloy AB (OTCPK: ASAZF). The Justice Department filed a lawsuit to prevent the Swedish company from acquiring the Spectrum Brand unit in September.
Spectrum Brands shares soared 27% on December 2 after Assa announced an agreement to sell some assets to Fortune Brands Home & Security (FBIN) for $800 million to try to remedy concerns from the Department of Justice. Spectrum (SPB) is also scheduled to report first quarter results on Friday.