Tracinda Corp., the investment arm of billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, said Monday it launched a cash tender offer to acquire 15 million additional shares of casino operator MGM Mirage.
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Tracinda, which is solely owned by Kerkorian, previously said it would offer $825 million in cash for up to 15 million shares in MGM, raising its stake to 61.1 percent if the full amount of shares is purchased. Tracinda currently holds a 55.9 percent stake in the Las Vegas-based company.
The bid represents a more than 12 percent premium over MGM's closing stock price of $49 on Nov. 21, the last trading day before the announcement of the planned offer. The offer, which is set to expire on Jan. 4, is not subject to a financing contingency.
WASHINGTON
Move made to tighten rules on short selling
The Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously Monday to propose tightening restrictions intended to combat manipulative short selling ahead of stock offerings.
Current SEC rules bar short sellers from covering short sales with shares obtained in a follow-on offering within the next five days. Nevertheless, SEC officials said they have seen a number of cases where short sellers skirted the requirement, making easy profits at the expense of companies seeking to raise additional capital.
Under the proposed change, anyone who has executed a short sale in the five-day period before the offering would be barred from purchasing shares in the offering. If adopted, the new restrictions would permit short selling within five days in advance of an offering, or buying shares in the offering, but not both.
NEW YORK
Bank of New York will take over Mellon
Bank of New York Co. has agreed to take over Mellon Financial Corp. for stock valued at $17.6 billion in a deal that will create the world's largest securities servicing company and one of the biggest asset managers.
The combination, which is expected to be completed by the middle of next year, combines two financial institutions that are deeply steeped in American history. New York-based Bank of New York was founded in 1784 by Alexander Hamilton, who went on to become the first secretary of the U.S. Treasury. Mellon Financial, meanwhile, has been around since its 1869 founding by the Mellon family of financiers and philanthropists.
The new company -- which will preserve links to that heritage by calling itself the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. -- will be the world's leading asset servicer with $16.6 trillion in assets under custody.
FALLON
Survey takers suggest slaughterhouse site
A survey of producers and consumers in western Nevada and northern California suggests a proposed slaughterhouse should be centrally located in Silver Springs, preliminary results of the survey show.
The study analyzed the possibility of either a mobile or stationary U.S. Department of Agriculture-certified slaughterhouse in northern Nevada, said Kynda Curtis, associate professor at the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Both agricultural and livestock producers and consumers were surveyed in five Western Nevada counties and two Northern California counties, she said.
PHILADELPHIA
LSI Logic will acquire Agere Systems
LSI Logic Corp. said Monday it will purchase rival storage and communications chip maker Agere Systems for $4 billion in stock, a move that will help it expand into the fast-growing market for the electronic brains of portable gadgets.
Agere shareholders will receive 2.16 shares of LSI for each Agere share held, valuing Agere at $22.81 per share. The purchase price represents a 28 percent premium to Agere's Friday closing price of $17.79 on the New York Stock Exchange.
The acquisition of Agere boosts LSI's business in cell phones, MP3 players and other portable media devices, and provides a chance to improve efficiency and cut costs.
LSI Logic shares plunged on the news, falling $1.44, or 13.64 percent, Monday to close at $9.12.
ATLANTA
Pilgrim's Pride finally gets rights to Gold Kist
Poultry producer Pilgrim's Pride Corp. won its pursuit of the reluctant Gold Kist, saying Monday its rival had accepted a sweetened $21 per share buyout offer worth $1.1 billion. There could be job cuts in corporate positions after the deal closes.
The combined company will be the world's top-producing chicken company, the companies, say. It would employ 56,000 people.
The offer is $1 per share higher than Pilgrim's Pride's initial offer, first announced in August.
WASHINGTON
Gasoline prices climb nationally, fall locally
The price of gasoline climbed by a nickel last week to an average of $2.30 nationwide.
The federal Energy Information Administration said Monday that U.S. motorists paid $2.297 a gallon on average for regular grade last week, an increase of 5.1 cents from the previous week.
Pump prices are now 15 cents higher than a year ago and roughly 75 cents a gallon lower since the start of August.
Gasoline prices were most expensive last week on the West Coast, averaging $2.485 per gallon, and cheapest in the Gulf Coast region, averaging $2.182 per gallon, the administration said.
In Nevada, the price of a gallon of self-serve regular unleaded gasoline averaged $2.519 Monday, down from $2.525 Sunday, AAA said in its Daily Fuel Gauge report. A month ago, the statewide average was $2.451.
In Las Vegas, regular unleaded averaged $2.466 on Monday, AAA said, down from $2.467 Sunday. A month ago, the average Las Vegas price was $2.356, AAA said.
WASHINGTON
Interest rates decline in Monday auction
Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction to the lowest levels since early October.
The Treasury Department auctioned $18 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 4.87 percent, down from 4.905 percent last week. Another $16 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4.840 percent, down from 4.935 percent last week.
NEW YORK
Bond prices static amid profit-taking
U.S. Treasury bond prices ended the trading session little changed Monday after having dipped slightly on profit-taking earlier in the day.
At 5 p.m. EST, the 10-year Treasury note was up 0.06 points from late Friday. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, fell to 4.43 percent from 4.44 percent.
The 30-year bond was up 0.06 points. Its yield declined to 4.54 percent from 4.55 percent.
