A Few Trades For The Day

I picked up some Aladin Knowledge Systems (Ticker: ALDN) @ $9.88 and sold later in the day for $10.44 generating a 5.66% gain. This company is being acquired by Vector Capital for $11.50 in cash. Initially, I was going to hang on to this as an arb play, but based on some potential anti trust delays, I decided to take the profit and move on. There’s no point in trying to be greedy in this market environment.

I also did a quick trade in CV Therapeutics (Ticker: CVTX). This company is in the process of fighting a hostile take over attempt by the Japanese pharmaceutical company, Astellas. I picked up some shares yesterday at $15.88 and sold this morning at $16.19, generating a 1.95% return. I don’t want to be involved in this fight.

Forsys Metals Corp. (Ticker: FOSYF.PK) received shareholder approval today. The company is being acquired by George Forrest International Afrique for $7.00 Canadian. The company issued a preliminary closing date of March 12th.

Finally, I nibbled at some Genzyme Corp. (Ticker: GENZ) today at $62.06. The EU approval of the 4000L bioreactor for the production of Myozyme is a big big deal and the market basically ignored the news focusing instead on Obama's healthcare plan. The PDUFA date for the US approval of the 2000L bioreactor for Myozyme (Lumizyme) is February 28th. The company should hear shortly from the FDA, but they've been missing the PDUFA dates recently. This sell off in the biotech’s way overdone.

Risk Arb Books

I've never seen a good book on M&A. Even back in my grad school days, I took a course on M&A and there was no text book for the class. The professor mentioned that all the M&A text books out there were junk. Anyways, I just happened to stumble across this book on risk arbitrage and it looks interesting. We'll see...

Forsys Metals Corp Arb Play

I received the cash today from the American Land Lease tender offer, which was much quicker than what I expected. There’s not much in the arbitrage world right now. I’ve been nibbling at Genentech (Ticker: DNA), but that deal is far from certain. I just picked up some Forsys Metals Corp. (Ticker: FOSYF.PK), which is a Canadian company, for $5.14 US. This company is being acquired by George Forrest International Afrique for $7.00 Canadian, which translates to ~$5.60 US with a spread of ~ 9%. The shareholder meeting is scheduled to take place on February 27th and the hearing of the final order to approve the deal scheduled for March 3rd. This deal is expected to close by March 18th.

The Shot Heard Around the World

I just have to agree with Rick Santelli. See for yourself...

American Land Lease = Done Deal

It’s a done deal now with American Land Lease (Ticker: ANL). The company received all of the commitments and will payout $14.20 to shares that were tendered. It’ll probably take a week or two to receive the cash. This arb play generated a return of 5% for about a weeks work (more like a week of sweating it out). I didn’t back up the truck in this deal, but it’s still nice to make some $$$. I have to learn not to get too complacent with the arb plays. When things keep going your way, it can be dangerous. It’s never easy making $$$ in the market.

American Land Lease Arb Play

Ok, my break from this arb stuff is over. I just picked up some American Land Lease (Ticker: ANL) at $13.58. There’s a tender offer for $14.20 from Greene Courte Partners. Approximately 93% of the shares have already been tendered, which qualifies Greene Courte Partners to complete this deal under a short form merger. This will get the deal done quicker than a traditional merger. Hopefully, this deal will close by the end of this month.

Puget Energy Holding = Done Deal

Well, it's official now. The Puget Energy Holding (Ticker: PSD) deal has finally closed. This was my largest arb play to date generating a return of 6.57%. I maxed out my margin in this arb play and fortunately it paid off. In order to maximize your return in arb plays, you generally have to use margin. If you do use margin, you really need a strong conviction that the deal is solid. The only arb play I have right now is Genentech (Ticker: DNA). I purchased this company years ago and it has now morphed into an arb play. I'll probably take a break from the arb stuff and focus on growth investing once again.

I'm getting very bullish on the market now. I got rid of my covered call positions in Apple (Ticker: AAPL) and going to let it ride. I also like the technicals in Goldman Sachs (Ticker: GS). When the market goes up on bad news, that's a very good sign.

Closed Out NDS and More Puget

I closed out all my arb position in NDS Group PLC (Ticker: NNDS) today yielding a return of 7.46% over a 2.5 week period. I rolled the proceeds from NDS Group PLC into more Puget Energy Holding (Ticker: PSD). There was some weakness in Puget Energy Holding today so I decided to take the plunge. As they say in poker, “I’m all in”. The annualized return on Puget Energy Holding is over 130% based on a Friday closing.