Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in
Monday's session are Elan Corp. PLC (ELN, DRX.DB), Saks Inc. (SKS)
and solar companies.
Drug maker Perrigo Co. (PRGO) agreed to buy Irish biotech firm
Elan for $8.6 billion in the latest pharmaceutical-industry deal
motivated at least in part by taxes. Perrigo will use a mix of cash
and stock to buy Elan for $16.50 a share, a 10.5% premium over
Elan's closing stock price Friday. Elan's American depositary
shares rose 6.5% to $15.90 premarket.
Retailer Saks agreed to be bought by Hudson's Bay Co. (HBC.T)
for about $2.8 billion in a purchase that is probably as much about
high-end real estate as luxury clothes. Both boards approved the
deal, which is worth about $2.9 billion, including the assumption
of debt. Hudson's Bay agreed to pay $16 a share for Saks, a 4.5%
premium to Friday's close. Saks shares rose 3.7% to $15.87
premarket.
Shares of Chinese solar companies rose premarket following a
weekend deal between the European Union and China on solar-panel
imports. Saturday's agreement, which sets a price floor for Chinese
solar panel exporters, comes as the EU was about to slap import
tariffs of nearly 48% on China's solar-energy exports starting on
Aug. 6. Hanwha SolarOne Co.'s (HSOL) American depositary shares
rose 11% to $3.83 premarket, while ReneSola Ltd.'s (SOL) ADSs rose
10% to $4.73, Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. (YGE) rose 9.5% to
$4.38 and JinkoSolar Holding Co. (JKS) rose 8.1% to $13.93.
Chelsea Therapeutics International Ltd. (CHTP) said the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration identified certain technical
deficiencies in the company's resubmitted new drug application for
its lead investigational drug candidate Northera. Shares fell 7.8%
to $2.83 premarket.
Novavax Inc. (NVAX) said its virus-like particle vaccine
candidate showed positive results in a preclinical test to protect
against the deadly new A(H7N9) bird-flu strain. Shares rose 6.4% to
$2.65 premarket.
Publicis Groupe SA (PUB.FR, PUBGY) and Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC)
said Sunday they will merge to create a $35.1 billion advertising
giant by market capitalization, overtaking current market leader
WPP PLC (WPPGY, WPP.LN) in the industry's biggest deal ever. The
companies said they will create a new entity called the Publicis
Omnicom Group in a merger of equals. Omnicom shares were up 6.6% to
$69.40 premarket.
Watchlist:
Oil and gas transporter Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP's (BWP)
second-quarter earnings rose 8.3%, but margins shrank amid weaker
transportation revenue.
Carl Icahn on Monday countered recent comments made by Dell Inc.
(DELL) founder Michael Dell about voter turnout and counting, the
latest salvo in a protracted back and forth between the activist
investor and the PC maker ahead of an impending vote on whether
Dell should be taken private.
Intersil Corp. (ISIL) unveiled plans to cut about 10% of its
workforce as the chip maker looks to further reduce costs. The
company, which designs and makes analog semiconductors, also
reported better-than-expected revenue for the second quarter.
Loews Corp. (L) on Monday said its second-quarter earnings
surged sharply, as a 17% profit jump in its CNA Financial Corp.
(CNA) insurance unit trumped a weaker performance at Diamond
Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO).
Spectra Energy Corp. (SE) and NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE) will
build a $3 billion pipeline bringing natural gas to power utilities
in Florida, the companies said Friday, connecting the state to the
natural-gas supply boom outside its borders.
Wynn Resorts Ltd.'s (WYNN) second-quarter profit fell 6% as the
casino operator reported a $26.6 million charge on the early
retirement of debt, masking an increase in revenue.
Write to Anna Prior at anna.prior@dowjones.com
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