Bowne & Co. Closing Soon?

It looks like Bowne & Co (Ticker: BNE) will be closing soon. The stock is up 3.27% to $11.38 on heavy volume with no news. The takeout price is $11.50 per share by R.R. Donnelley & Sons, Co (Ticker: RRD). Looking to be a nice little payoff…

Edit: I closed out of my position in Bowne & Co. today at $11.31 generating a net gain of 1.93% (63.10% annualized gain) over an 11 day period. I’m not going to get greedy with this one.

Sanofi-Aventis Getting Ready for Genzyme

Today, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sanofi-Aventis (Ticker: SNY) has approached Citigroup (Ticker: C) and Bank of America (Ticker: BAC) for additional financing for the acquisition of Genzyme (Ticker: GENZ). This is a smart move by Sanofi-Aventis as it prevents other potential bidders from using these banks for financing. I believe Sanofi-Aventis is close to making a move on Genzyme. If they don’t hear from Genzyme soon, they will probably strike right after Genzyme’s Q3 earnings report, which is scheduled for release on October 20th. This should provide enough info for Sanofi-Aventis to go hostile.

Risk Arb Play in Bowne & Co.

Well, there goes by long term buy and hold strategy with Visa (Ticker: V). I sold Visa today at $68.49 generating a 4.13% gain in a week. I still hold all of my IPO shares in Visa and I’m definitely not selling any of those anytime soon. I used some of the proceeds from this sale to initiate a risk arb position in Bowne & Co (Ticker: BNE).

Bowne & Co. entered into a merger agreement with R.R. Donnelley & Sons, Co. (Ticker: RRD) way back in February for $11.50 per share. This deal is currently hung up with the FTC and the companies expect FTC approval in the second half of this year. On 5/12/10, the FTC initiated a second request, which further delayed the closing. I picked up a few shares today at $11.09. The company should be receiving news soon regarding the decision from the FTC. It’s hard to see how the FTC can nix this small deal. It’s a $481 million deal in a boring industry. Bowne & Co. prints shareholder reports… I’ve noticed that the FTC is scrutinizing even the small deals these days. In any case, I believe there is a very good probability that this deal closes soon.

A Bit of Visa

Not much happening… I did pick up some shares of Visa (Ticker: V) on Monday at $65.77. The sell off in Visa was ridiculous and I’ve always wanted to add to my position. I got into Visa in 2008 via the IPO at $44 so this was a very attractive price. Visa is a 20% grower and everyone thinks that the Fed will destroy this company with the pricing control of PIN transactions. This was an over reaction to all of the recent analysts down grades. I rarely ever jump into a stock at / near a 52 week low, but this was seriously a gift. I’m planning to hold onto Visa for awhile.

Ok, now back to the Genzyme (Ticker: GENZ) / Sanofi-Aventis (Ticker: SNY) waiting game…

Closed Out Potash

I closed out my position in Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (Ticker: POT) today at ~ $149 and change yielding a 1.81% return over a 16 day period (40.73% annualized return). It’s a big transaction and China is meddling into the action. This deal will take a while to close and there is a bit of uncertainty as to how China will act. Right now, I’m just solely focusing on the Genzyme (Ticker: GENZ) / Sanofi-Aventis (Ticker: SNY) play.