Author: therawinformant

If you want to know who really controls Altimmune, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALT), then you'll have to look at the makeup of its…

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U.S. insurer Allstate Corp. (ALL) has agreed to acquire National General Holdings Corp.(NGHC) for about $4 billion in cash, or $34.50 per share.As part of the takeover deal National General shareholders will get $32 per share in cash and closing dividends of $2.50 per share. The $34.50 total value per share reflects a 69% premium to National General’s closing price on Tuesday. National General shares spiked 69% to $34.39 in Wednesday’s pre-market trading.Allstate will fund the share purchase by using $2.2 billion in combined cash resources and issuing $1.5 billion of new senior debt. The insurer said it will maintain its current share repurchase program.“Acquiring National General accelerates Allstate’s strategy to increase market share in personal property-liability and significantly expands our independent agent distribution,” said Allstate CEO Tom Wilson said. “The acquisition increases personal lines premiums by $4 billion and market share by over 1 percentage point to 10%.”Wilson added that the deal is expected to be accretive to adjusted net income earnings per share and return on equity beginning in the first year of the purchase. The transaction is expected to close in early 2021, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.New York-based National General provides a wide range of property-liability products through independent agents with a significant presence in non-standard auto insurance. The company also has accident and health and lender-placed insurance businesses. In 2019, written gross premiums amounted to $5.6 billion and generated operating income of $319 million.National General’s board of directors has approved the transaction including a breakup fee of $132.5 million. A voting agreement has also been signed with entities controlling 40% of National General’s common shares to vote for the transaction.Allstate shares have dropped 18% this year as the lockdown mandates tied to the coronavirus pandemic curtailed insurers’ businesses. The stock fell 2.3% to $90.50 in pre-market trading.In reaction to the deal, Merrill Lynch analyst Joshua Shanker reiterated a Buy rating on the stock with a $138 price target (49% upside potential), saying that Allstate is giving up $90-$100 million of annual income to receive about $350 million in National General income, which he believes is a “conservative assumption”.“We are not confident that National General can help Allstate with its sluggish organic revenue growth, but, while Allstate shares may react negatively to this news – as is often the case with acquirers – we expect consensus EPS numbers will rise as models incorporate the new income stream,” Shanker wrote in a note to investors.Overall, Wall Street analysts are divided on the stock between 4 Buys and 4 Holds adding up to a Moderate Buy rating. The $118.86 average price target implies 29% upside potential to current levels. (See Allstate stock analysis o TipRanks).Related News: Sunrun To Buy Vivint Solar For About $1.46B In All-Stock Deal Billionaire Buffett’s Energy Unit To Buy Dominion Energy Assets For $4B Google, Temasek Are Said To Be In Talks To Invest Up To $1B In Tokopedia More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * AstraZeneca-Merck Pancreatic Cancer Drug Wins European Approval * Alphabet’s Loon Deploys Internet In Kenya From Balloons * United Airlines Sees Weak Bookings Amid Covid-19 Resurgence; Shares Drop * GenMark Soaring In Pre-Market On 118% Revenue Explosion

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In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of BP PLC (LON:BP.) by projecting its future cash flows…

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The external fund manager backed by Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger, Li Lu, makes no bones about it when he says…

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Ant Group, the fintech arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, plans a Hong Kong float as soon as this year and targets a valuation of more than $200 billion, said two sources with knowledge of the matter. The world’s most valuable tech “unicorn” had been looking to sell shares in Hong Kong and mainland China simultaneously, but is now leaning heavily towards the Asian financial hub first because it would probably face a smoother listing process, the sources and a third person with knowledge of the matter said. It is looking at selling between 5% and 10% of its shares in an initial public offering, said one of the sources, in what would be one of the world’s biggest listings this year.

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Nokia, battling with China’s Huawei and Sweden’s Ericsson, is trying to strengthen its 5G slate and looking especially to deployment by U.S. telecom companies for growth. Overnight, JP Morgan downgraded Nokia to “neutral” from “overweight”, citing a potential loss of business with Verizon. “We believe that there is a real risk Verizon will depend less on Nokia as their primary RAN (radio access network) supplier going forward,” JPM said in a note, adding there were signs Verizon was using Samsung.

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Avenue Capital Group CEO and legendary investor, Marc Lasry, joins ‘Influencers with Andy Serwer’ to discuss the pandemic’s impact on the global economy.

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Shares in TechnipFMC (FTI) spiked 11% in Tuesday’s after-hours trading after the company announced a major Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract with Assiut National Oil Processing Company (ANOPC) for the construction of a new Hydrocracking Complex for the Assiut refinery in Egypt.TechnipFMC clarified that a “major” contract is over $1 billion.The contract covers new process units such as a Vacuum Distillation Unit, a Diesel Hydrocracking Unit, a Delayed Coker Unit, a Distillate Hydrotreating Unit as well as a Hydrogen Production Facility Unit using TechnipFMC’s steam reforming technology. The project also includes other process units, interconnecting, offsites and utilities.According to the statement, the plan is to transform lower-value petroleum products from Assiut Oil Refining Company’s (ASORC) nearby refinery into approximately 2.8 million tons per year of cleaner products, such as Euro 5 diesel.“This award demonstrates TechnipFMC’s long-standing relationship with the Egyptian petroleum sector and strengthens our expertise in the delivery of complex projects in the country” commented Catherine MacGregor, President of Technip Energies.She added: “Assiut is considered one of the major strategic projects needed to meet growing local demand for cleaner products, and we are extremely honored to have been selected by ANOPC to contribute to the largest refining project to be implemented in Upper Egypt.”TechnipFMC says it is currently working with ANOPC to complete the remaining conditions precedent so that the project can start.Shares in FTI have plunged 67% year-to-date, and analysts have a cautiously optimistic Moderate Buy consensus on the stock- with 10 recent buy ratings, 3 hold ratings and 1 sell rating. That’s with a $10 average analyst price target (40% upside potential). (See FTI stock analysis on TipRanks).On the bull side comes RBC Capital Kurt Hallead with a buy rating and $12 price target. “FTI offers an absolute and relative value proposition for investors who are willing to focus on mid-cycle earnings power post the COVID-19 and oil price collapse challenges” the analyst stated, noting that the company has a strong balance sheet and ample liquidity.Related News: Billionaire Buffett’s Energy Unit To Buy Dominion Energy Assets For $4B AMC Pops 12% In After-Market Amid Report Of New Restructuring Deal Sunrun To Buy Vivint Solar For About $1.46B In All-Stock Deal More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * AMC Pops 12% In After-Market Amid Report Of New Restructuring Deal To Avert Bankruptcy * Synaptics Snaps Up AVGO Wireless IoT Rights; Analyst Upgrades Stock * DocuSign Buys Liveoak For $38M To Boost New Notary Offering * Uber Launching Grocery Delivery Service In Latin America, Canada, And US

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