Exam 1: Introduction to Mergers, acquisitions, and Other Restructuring Activities

The empirical evidence supports the presumption that bigger is always better when it comes to acquisitions.

Pfizer Acquires Pharmacia to Solidify Its Top Position In 1990, the European and U.S. markets were about the same size; by 2000, the U.S. market had grown to twice that of the European market. This rapid growth in the U.S. market propelled American companies to ever increasing market share positions. In particular, Pfizer moved from 14th in terms of market share in 1990 to the top spot in 2000. With the acquisition of Pharmacia in 2002, Pfizer's global market share increased by three percentage points to 11%. The top ten drug firms controlled more than 50 percent of the global market, up from 22 percent in 1990. Pfizer is betting that size is what matters in the new millennium. As the market leader, Pfizer was finding it increasingly difficult to sustain the double-digit earnings growth demanded by investors. Such growth meant the firm needed to grow revenue by $3-$5 billion annually while maintaining or improving profit margins. This became more difficult due to the skyrocketing costs of developing and commercializing new drugs. Expiring patents on a number of so-called blockbuster drugs (i.e., those with potential annual sales of more than $1 billion) intensified pressure to bring new drugs to market. Pfizer and Pharmacia knew each other well. They had been in a partnership since 1998 to market the world's leading arthritis medicine and the 7th largest selling drug globally in terms of annual sales in Celebrex. The companies were continuing the partnership with 2nd generation drugs such as Bextra launched in the spring of 2002. For Pharmacia's management, the potential for combining with Pfizer represented a way for Pharmacia and its shareholders to participate in the biggest and fastest growing company in the industry, a firm more capable of bringing more products to market than any other. The deal offered substantial cost savings, immediate access to new products and markets, and access to a number of potentially new blockbuster drugs. Projected cost savings are $1.4 billion in 2003, $2.2 billion in 2004, and $2.5 billion in 2005 and thereafter. Moreover, Pfizer gained access to four more drug lines with annual revenue of more than $1 billion each, whose patents extend through 2010. That gives Pfizer, a portfolio, including its own, of 12 blockbuster drugs. The deal also enabled Pfizer to enter three new markets, cancer treatment, ophthalmology, and endocrinology. Pfizer expects to spend $5.3 billion on R&D in 2002. Adding Pharmacia's $2.2 billion brings combined company spending to $7.5 billion annually. With an enlarged research and development budget Pfizer hopes to discover and develop more new drugs faster than its competitors. On July 15, 2002, the two firms jointly announced they had agreed that Pfizer would exchange 1.4 shares of its stock for each outstanding share of Pharmacia stock or $45 a share based on the announcement date closing price of Pfizer stock. The total value of the transaction on the announcement was $60 billion. The offer price represented a 38% premium over Pharmacia's closing stock price of $32.59 on the announcement date. Pfizer's shareholders would own 77% of the combined firms and Pharmcia's shareholders 23%. The market punished Pfizer, sending its shares down $3.42 or 11% to $28.78 on the announcement date. Meanwhile, Pharmacia's shares climbed $6.66 or 20% to $39.25. : -In your judgment,what were the primary motivations for Pfizer wanting to acquire Pharmacia? Categorize these in terms of the primary motivations for mergers and acquisitions discussed in this chapter.

Mergers and acquisitions rarely pay off for target firm shareholders,but they are usually beneficial to acquiring firm shareholders.

Mattel Overpays for The Learning Company Despite disturbing discoveries during due diligence, Mattel acquired The Learning Company (TLC), a leading developer of software for toys, in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at $3.5 billion on May 13, 1999. Mattel had determined that TLC's receivables were overstated because product returns from distributors were not deducted from receivables and its allowance for bad debt was inadequate. A $50 million licensing deal also had been prematurely put on the balance sheet. Finally, TLC's brands were becoming outdated. TLC had substantially exaggerated the amount of money put into research and development for new software products. Nevertheless, driven by the appeal of rapidly becoming a big player in the children's software market, Mattel closed on the transaction aware that TLC's cash flows were overstated. For all of 1999, TLC represented a pretax loss of $206 million. After restructuring charges, Mattel's consolidated 1999 net loss was $82.4 million on sales of $5.5 billion. TLC's top executives left Mattel and sold their Mattel shares in August, just before the third quarter's financial performance was released. Mattel's stock fell by more than 35% during 1999 to end the year at about $14 per share. On February 3, 2000, Mattel announced that its chief executive officer (CEO), Jill Barrad, was leaving the company. On September 30, 2000, Mattel virtually gave away The Learning Company to rid itself of what had become a seemingly intractable problem. This ended what had become a disastrous foray into software publishing that had cost the firm literally hundreds of millions of dollars. Mattel, which had paid $3.5 billion for the firm in 1999, sold the unit to an affiliate of Gores Technology Group for rights to a share of future profits. Essentially, the deal consisted of no cash upfront and only a share of potential future revenues. In lieu of cash, Gores agreed to give Mattel 50 percent of any profits and part of any future sale of TLC. In a matter of weeks, Gores was able to do what Mattel could not do in a year. Gores restructured TLC's seven units into three, set strong controls on spending, sifted through 467 software titles to focus on the key brands, and repaired relationships with distributors. Gores also has sold the entertainment division. : -Why did Mattel disregard the warning signs uncovered during due diligence? Identify which motives for acquisitions discussed in this chapter may have been at work.

The primary advantage of a holding company structure is the potential leverage that can be achieved by gaining effective control of other companies' assets at a lower overall cost than would be required if the firm were to acquire 100 percent of the target's outstanding stock.

Assessing Procter & Gamble's Acquisition of Gillette The potential seemed almost limitless, as Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) announced that it had completed its purchase of Gillette Company (Gillette) in late 2005. P&G's chairman and CEO, A.G. Lafley, predicted that the acquisition of Gillette would add one percentage point to the firm's annual revenue growth rate, while Gillette's chairman and CEO, Jim Kilts, opined that the successful integration of the two best companies in consumer products would be studied in business schools for years to come. Five years after closing, things have not turned out as expected. While cost savings targets were achieved, operating margins faltered due to lagging sales. Gillette's businesses, such as its pricey razors, have been buffeted by the 2008-2009 recession and have been a drag on P&G's top line rather than a boost. Moreover, most of Gillette's top managers have left. P&G's stock price at the end of 2010 stood about 12 percent above its level on the acquisition announcement date, less than one-fourth the appreciation of the share prices of such competitors as Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive Company during the same period. On January 28, 2005, P&G enthusiastically announced that it had reached an agreement to buy Gillette in a share-for-share exchange valued at $55.6 billion. This represented an 18 percent premium over Gillette's preannouncement share price. P&G also announced a stock buyback of $18 billion to $22 billion, funded largely by issuing new debt. The combined companies would retain the P&G name and have annual 2005 revenue of more than $60 billion. Half of the new firm's product portfolio would consist of personal care, healthcare, and beauty products, with the remainder consisting of razors and blades, and batteries. The deal was expected to dilute P&G's 2006 earnings by about 15 cents per share. To gain regulatory approval, the two firms would have to divest overlapping operations, such as deodorants and oral care. P&G had long been viewed as a premier marketing and product innovator. Consequently, P&G assumed that its R&D and marketing skills in developing and promoting women's personal care products could be used to enhance and promote Gillette's women's razors. Gillette was best known for its ability to sell an inexpensive product (e.g., razors) and hook customers to a lifetime of refills (e.g., razor blades). Although Gillette was the number 1 and number 2 supplier in the lucrative toothbrush and men's deodorant markets, respectively, it has been much less successful in improving the profitability of its Duracell battery brand. Despite its number 1 market share position, it had been beset by intense price competition from Energizer and Rayovac Corp., which generally sell for less than Duracell batteries. Suppliers such as P&G and Gillette had been under considerable pressure from the continuing consolidation in the retail industry due to the ongoing growth of Wal-Mart and industry mergers at that time, such as Sears and Kmart. About 17 percent of P&G's $51 billion in 2005 revenues and 13 percent of Gillette's $9 billion annual revenue came from sales to Wal-Mart. Moreover, the sales of both Gillette and P&G to Wal-Mart had grown much faster than sales to other retailers. The new company, P&G believed, would have more negotiating leverage with retailers for shelf space and in determining selling prices, as well as with its own suppliers, such as advertisers and media companies. The broad geographic presence of P&G was expected to facilitate the marketing of such products as razors and batteries in huge developing markets, such as China and India. Cumulative cost cutting was expected to reach $16 billion, including layoffs of about 4 percent of the new company's workforce of 140,000. Such cost reductions were to be realized by integrating Gillette's deodorant products into P&G's structure as quickly as possible. Other Gillette product lines, such as the razor and battery businesses, were to remain intact. P&G's corporate culture was often described as conservative, with a "promote-from-within" philosophy. While Gillette's CEO was to become vice chairman of the new company, the role of other senior Gillette managers was less clear in view of the perception that P&G is laden with highly talented top management. To obtain regulatory approval, Gillette agreed to divest its Rembrandt toothpaste and its Right Guard deodorant businesses, while P&G agreed to divest its Crest toothbrush business. The Gillette acquisition illustrates the difficulty in evaluating the success or failure of mergers and acquisitions for acquiring company shareholders. Assessing the true impact of the Gillette acquisition remains elusive, even after five years. Though the acquisition represented a substantial expansion of P&G's product offering and geographic presence, the ability to isolate the specific impact of a single event (i.e., an acquisition) becomes clouded by the introduction of other major and often uncontrollable events (e.g., the 2008-2009 recession) and their lingering effects. While revenue and margin improvement have been below expectations, Gillette has bolstered P&G's competitive position in the fast-growing Brazilian and Indian markets, thereby boosting the firm's longer-term growth potential, and has strengthened its operations in Europe and the United States. Thus, in this ever-changing world, it will become increasingly difficult with each passing year to identify the portion of revenue growth and margin improvement attributable to the Gillette acquisition and that due to other factors. : -Is this a horizontal or vertical merger? What is the significance of this distinction? Explain your answer.

Assessing Procter & Gamble's Acquisition of Gillette The potential seemed almost limitless, as Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) announced that it had completed its purchase of Gillette Company (Gillette) in late 2005. P&G's chairman and CEO, A.G. Lafley, predicted that the acquisition of Gillette would add one percentage point to the firm's annual revenue growth rate, while Gillette's chairman and CEO, Jim Kilts, opined that the successful integration of the two best companies in consumer products would be studied in business schools for years to come. Five years after closing, things have not turned out as expected. While cost savings targets were achieved, operating margins faltered due to lagging sales. Gillette's businesses, such as its pricey razors, have been buffeted by the 2008-2009 recession and have been a drag on P&G's top line rather than a boost. Moreover, most of Gillette's top managers have left. P&G's stock price at the end of 2010 stood about 12 percent above its level on the acquisition announcement date, less than one-fourth the appreciation of the share prices of such competitors as Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive Company during the same period. On January 28, 2005, P&G enthusiastically announced that it had reached an agreement to buy Gillette in a share-for-share exchange valued at $55.6 billion. This represented an 18 percent premium over Gillette's preannouncement share price. P&G also announced a stock buyback of $18 billion to $22 billion, funded largely by issuing new debt. The combined companies would retain the P&G name and have annual 2005 revenue of more than $60 billion. Half of the new firm's product portfolio would consist of personal care, healthcare, and beauty products, with the remainder consisting of razors and blades, and batteries. The deal was expected to dilute P&G's 2006 earnings by about 15 cents per share. To gain regulatory approval, the two firms would have to divest overlapping operations, such as deodorants and oral care. P&G had long been viewed as a premier marketing and product innovator. Consequently, P&G assumed that its R&D and marketing skills in developing and promoting women's personal care products could be used to enhance and promote Gillette's women's razors. Gillette was best known for its ability to sell an inexpensive product (e.g., razors) and hook customers to a lifetime of refills (e.g., razor blades). Although Gillette was the number 1 and number 2 supplier in the lucrative toothbrush and men's deodorant markets, respectively, it has been much less successful in improving the profitability of its Duracell battery brand. Despite its number 1 market share position, it had been beset by intense price competition from Energizer and Rayovac Corp., which generally sell for less than Duracell batteries. Suppliers such as P&G and Gillette had been under considerable pressure from the continuing consolidation in the retail industry due to the ongoing growth of Wal-Mart and industry mergers at that time, such as Sears and Kmart. About 17 percent of P&G's $51 billion in 2005 revenues and 13 percent of Gillette's $9 billion annual revenue came from sales to Wal-Mart. Moreover, the sales of both Gillette and P&G to Wal-Mart had grown much faster than sales to other retailers. The new company, P&G believed, would have more negotiating leverage with retailers for shelf space and in determining selling prices, as well as with its own suppliers, such as advertisers and media companies. The broad geographic presence of P&G was expected to facilitate the marketing of such products as razors and batteries in huge developing markets, such as China and India. Cumulative cost cutting was expected to reach $16 billion, including layoffs of about 4 percent of the new company's workforce of 140,000. Such cost reductions were to be realized by integrating Gillette's deodorant products into P&G's structure as quickly as possible. Other Gillette product lines, such as the razor and battery businesses, were to remain intact. P&G's corporate culture was often described as conservative, with a "promote-from-within" philosophy. While Gillette's CEO was to become vice chairman of the new company, the role of other senior Gillette managers was less clear in view of the perception that P&G is laden with highly talented top management. To obtain regulatory approval, Gillette agreed to divest its Rembrandt toothpaste and its Right Guard deodorant businesses, while P&G agreed to divest its Crest toothbrush business. The Gillette acquisition illustrates the difficulty in evaluating the success or failure of mergers and acquisitions for acquiring company shareholders. Assessing the true impact of the Gillette acquisition remains elusive, even after five years. Though the acquisition represented a substantial expansion of P&G's product offering and geographic presence, the ability to isolate the specific impact of a single event (i.e., an acquisition) becomes clouded by the introduction of other major and often uncontrollable events (e.g., the 2008-2009 recession) and their lingering effects. While revenue and margin improvement have been below expectations, Gillette has bolstered P&G's competitive position in the fast-growing Brazilian and Indian markets, thereby boosting the firm's longer-term growth potential, and has strengthened its operations in Europe and the United States. Thus, in this ever-changing world, it will become increasingly difficult with each passing year to identify the portion of revenue growth and margin improvement attributable to the Gillette acquisition and that due to other factors. : -What are the motives for the deal? Discuss the logic underlying each motive you identify.

Dell Moves into Information Technology Services Dell Computer's growing dependence on the sale of personal computers and peripherals left it vulnerable to economic downturns. Profits had dropped more than 22 percent since the start of the global recession in early 2008 as business spending on information technology was cut sharply. Dell dropped from number 1 to number 3 in terms of market share, as measured by personal computer unit sales, behind lower-cost rivals Hewlett-Packard and Acer. Major competitors such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard were less vulnerable to economic downturns because they derived a larger percentage of their sales from delivering services. Historically, Dell has grown "organically" by reinvesting in its own operations and through partnerships targeting specific products or market segments. However, in recent years, Dell attempted to "supercharge" its lagging growth through targeted acquisitions of new technologies. Since 2007, Dell has made ten comparatively small acquisitions (eight in the United States), purchased stakes in four firms, and divested two companies. The largest previous acquisition for Dell was the purchase of EqualLogic for $1.4 billion in 2007. The recession underscored what Dell had known for some time. The firm had long considered diversifying its revenue base from the more cyclical PC and peripherals business into the more stable and less commodity-like computer services business. In 2007, Dell was in discussions about a merger with Perot Systems, a leading provider of information technology (IT) services, but an agreement could not be reached. Dell's global commercial customer base spans large corporations, government agencies, healthcare providers, educational institutions, and small and medium firms. The firm's current capabilities include expertise in infrastructure consulting and software services, providing network-based services, and data storage hardware; nevertheless, it was still largely a manufacturer of PCs and peripheral products. In contrast, Perot Systems offers applications development, systems integration, and strategic consulting services through its operations in the United States and ten other countries. In addition, it provides a variety of business process outsourcing services, including claims processing and call center operations. Perot's primary markets are healthcare, government, and other commercial segments. About one-half of Perot's revenue comes from the healthcare market, which is expected to benefit from the $30 billion the U.S. government has committed to spending on information technology (IT) upgrades over the next five years. In 2008, Hewlett-Packard (HP) paid $13.9 billion for computer services behemoth, EDS, in an attempt to become a "total IT solutions" provider for its customers. This event, coupled with a very attractive offer price, revived merger discussions with Perot Systems. On September 21, 2009, Dell announced that an agreement had been reached to acquire Perot Systems in an all-cash offer for $30 a share in a deal valued at $3.9 billion. The tender offer (i.e., takeover bid) for all of Perot Systems' outstanding shares of Class A common stock was initiated in early November and completed on November 19, 2009, with Dell receiving more than 90 percent of Perot's outstanding shares. Mars Buys Wrigley in One Sweet Deal Under considerable profit pressure from escalating commodity prices and eroding market share, Wrigley Corporation, a U.S. based leader in gum and confectionery products, faced increasing competition from Cadbury Schweppes in the U.S. gum market. Wrigley had been losing market share to Cadbury since 2006. Mars Corporation, a privately owned candy company with annual global sales of $22 billion, sensed an opportunity to achieve sales, marketing, and distribution synergies by acquiring Wrigley Corporation. On April 28, 2008, Mars announced that it had reached an agreement to merge with Wrigley Corporation for $23 billion in cash. Under the terms of the agreement, unanimously approved by the boards of the two firms, shareholders of Wrigley would receive $80 in cash for each share of common stock outstanding. The purchase price represented a 28 percent premium to Wrigley's closing share price of $62.45 on the announcement date. The merged firms in 2008 would have a 14.4 percent share of the global confectionary market, annual revenue of $27 billion, and 64,000 employees worldwide. The merger of the two family-controlled firms represents a strategic blow to competitor Cadbury Schweppes's efforts to continue as the market leader in the global confectionary market with its gum and chocolate business. Prior to the announcement, Cadbury had a 10 percent worldwide market share. Wrigley would become a separate stand-alone subsidiary of Mars, with $5.4 billion in sales. The deal would help Wrigley augment its sales, marketing, and distribution capabilities. To provide more focus to Mars' brands in an effort to stimulate growth, Mars would transfer its global nonchocolate confectionery sugar brands to Wrigley. Bill Wrigley, Jr., who controls 37 percent of the firm's outstanding shares, would remain executive chairman of Wrigley. The Wrigley management team also would remain in place after closing. The combined companies would have substantial brand recognition and product diversity in six growth categories: chocolate, nonchocolate confectionary, gum, food, drinks, and pet-care products. The resulting confectionary powerhouse also would expect to achieve significant cost savings by combining manufacturing operations and have a substantial presence in emerging markets. While mergers among competitors are not unusual, the deal's highly leveraged financial structure is atypical of transactions of this type. Almost 90 percent of the purchase price would be financed through borrowed funds, with the remainder financed largely by a third party equity investor. Mars's upfront costs would consist of paying for closing costs from its cash balances in excess of its operating needs. The debt financing for the transaction would consist of $11 billion and $5.5 billion provided by J.P. Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, respectively. An additional $4.4 billion in subordinated debt would come from Warren Buffet's investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, a nontraditional source of high-yield financing. Historically, such financing would have been provided by investment banks or hedge funds and subsequently repackaged into securities and sold to long-term investors, such as pension funds, insurance companies, and foreign investors. However, the meltdown in the global credit markets in 2008 forced investment banks and hedge funds to withdraw from the high-yield market in an effort to strengthen their balance sheets. Berkshire Hathaway completed the financing of the purchase price by providing $2.1 billion in equity financing for a 9.1 percent ownership stake in Wrigley. : -How might the additional product and geographic diversity achieved by combining Mars and Wrigley benefit the combined firms?

A divestiture is the sale of all or substantially all of a company or product line to another party for cash or securities.

News Corporation of America announced its intention to purchase shares in another national newspaper chain. Which one of the following terms best describes this announcement?

Which of the following is the most common reason that M&As often fail to meet expectations?

Which of the following represent disadvantages of a holding company structure?

Growth is often cited as an important factor in acquisitions.The underlying assumption is that that bigger is better to achieve scale,critical mass,globalization,and integration.

A firm may be motivated to purchase another firm whenever

Only interest payments on ESOP loans are tax deductible by the firm sponsoring the ESOP.

Post-merger financial performance of the new firm is often about the same as which of the following?

Tax benefits,such as tax credits and net operating loss carry-forwards of the target firm,are often considered the primary reason for the acquisition of that firm.

All of the following are considered business alliances except for

Most M&A transactions in the United States are hostile or unfriendly takeover attempts.

Pre-merger returns to target firm shareholders average about 30% around the announcement date of the transaction.