Took Profits in Facet Biotech

I took some small profits in Facet Biotech (Ticker: FACT) today. Biogen Idec (Ticker: BIIB) initiated a hostile tender offer for Facet Biotech (Ticker: FACT) at a price of $14.50 per share, which is really a joke. The probability is that the bickering between the two companies will drag on just a bit longer and Biogen Idec will ultimately raise the price. The risk is that Facet Biotech upsets Biogen Idec and makes them walk away. I made my purchases on 9/8/09 at an average price of $16.337 and sold today at an average price of $16.716 for a net gain of 2.32%. I’ll take this type of return any time over a two week period. Now is not the time to get greedy…

Sold Highland Partners

I closed out my risk arb play in Highland Partners (Ticker: HLND) at $7.60 per share (unit). The buyout price is for $7.75, which is still pending SEC approval of the definite proxy and shareholder vote. This is a gas limited partnership and with the price of natural gas at ~ $2.50 / MMBtu, this deal is starting to look a bit expensive. With that in mind, I sold today for a 3.68% gain over a 9 week period, which equates to an annualized return of ~ 21%.

So as all of you have heard already, the European Union is launching an in depth investigation of Oracles (Ticker: ORCL) purchase of Sun Microsystems (Ticker: JAVA). They issued a provisional deadline of January 19, 2010 to complete the investigation. There’s no doubt that this deal will eventually close, but the question is when? I doubt that they’ll wait until the deadline to issue a decision. Anyways, I’m still hanging onto the Sun Microsystems play.

I nibbled at some Facet Biotech Corp. (Ticker: FACT) today. This company is in play with Biogen Idec (Ticker: BIIB) trying to acquire the company on the cheap. The bottom line is that Biogen Idec has got to increase its bid if they want to acquire this company. We’ll see how this plays out…