Banking, finance, and taxes

Over $100 Billion in Buybacks and M&A in August (HPQ, INTU, LO, VRSN, DTV, DISCA, GPS, JWN, MRVL, RSH, PAR, GENZ, POT, INTC, SCHW, MMM, DYN, SNY, BHP)

$100 billion… That is roughly the combined tally of August share buyback announcements and merger announcements.  This may not be a record, but it has to be one of the most active months of announcements that intend to return capital to shareholders.

Share buyback announcements were led by Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU), Lorillard, Inc. (NYSE: LO), VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV), Discovery Communications Inc (NASDAQ: DISCA), Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL), and RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH).

M&A activity was led by deals for 3PAR, Inc. (NYSE: PAR), Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ), Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), Charles Schwab Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHW), 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) and Dynegy Inc. (NYSE: DYN).

While you can not expect all of the set buybacks to be accelerated and while some may never be completed, combined announcements of more than $26 billion (not including many smaller buybacks announced) are hard to ignore even if $10 billion was via Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ).  Some of these were add-on amounts and some were new combined announcements.

The merger front is also a slippery slope in the named deals (not including some smaller deals) because some of these are being challenged.  The lion’s share of M&A revolves around Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) by Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) and Potash Corp of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) by BHP Billiton plc (NYSE: BHP), both of which deals have the targets trading at a premium because the companies want more money.

The table below was geared down to only account for the larger deals.  Many smaller deals and smaller buybacks were left off, which is why the tally is just shy of the $100 billion mark.  Below is a table summary of the combined share buybacks and the combined acquisition targets:

BUYBACK ANNOUNCEMENTS SIZE (MIL$)
Fossil, Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL) $750
Qlogic Corp. (NASDAQ: QLGC) $200
Oil States International Inc. (NYSE: OIS) $100
White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. (NYSE: WTM) $180
Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) $200
Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) $100
Ann Taylor Stores Corporation (NYSE: ANN) $400
Dillard’s Inc. (NYSE: DDS) $250
Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) $750
Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) $10,000
Lorillard, Inc. (NYSE: LO) $1,000
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) $500
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) $2,000
The Children’s Place Retail Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLCE) $100
Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) $500
RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) $500
Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) $90
Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) $80
Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX) $200
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: RNR) $500
TD AMERITRADE Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD) $500
Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP) $300
The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE: SMG) $500
Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) $250
VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) $1,100
DIRECTV (NASDAQ: DTV) $2,000
Discovery Communications Inc (NASDAQ: DISCA) $1,000
Gartner Inc. (NYSE: IT) $500
WMS Industries Inc. (NYSE: WMS) $300
Focus Media Holding Limited (NASDAQ: FMCN) $300
Plum Creek Timber Co. (NYSE: PCL) $200
Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) $200
W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB) $260
Skyworks Solutions (NASDAQ: SWKS) $200
Owens Corning (NYSE: OC) $285
WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD) $150
Total Counted Buybacks $26,445
MERGER ANNOUNCEMENTS SIZE (MIL$)
Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) sale of wind to Exelon $900
3PAR, Inc. (NYSE: PAR) by HP $1,900
Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) by Sanofi $18,500
Potash Corp of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) by BHP $39,000
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Infineon wireless $1,400
McAfee, Inc. (NYSE: MFE) by Intel $7,700
New Alliance Bancshares Inc. (NYSE: NAL) $1,500
Charles Schwab (NASDAQ: SCHW) for Windward $150
Cogent Inc. (NASDAQ: COGT) by 3M $943
3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) buys Attenti from Francisco Partners $230
Dynegy Inc. (NYSE: DYN) by Blackstone $542
Total Counted M&A $72,765

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JON C. OGG

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