iolat
20 Mar 2018
Re: ADVFN I am not happy that there is a build up of shorting in Melrose shares, expecting them to fail in their bid. Melrose and GKN should be allowed to argue their respective cases without the professional gamblers tying to influence things.
Lupo di mare
20 Mar 2018
GKN pension response [link]
pike fisherman
19 Mar 2018
Re: Anne Stevens .... Just the reaction I expected. Knew it would be you Lupo.
Lupo di mare
19 Mar 2018
Re: Anne Stevens .... "SEP awards are subject to i) EPS performance targets relative to actual end market growth over a three year performance period and ii) the Board?s assessment of successful shareholder value creation over the performance period. Any Shares that vest at the end of the performance period will be subject to an additional two-year holding period prior to release. The vesting of SEP awards is also subject to the Remuneration Committee?s assessment of both the quality of earnings and EPS performance against shareholder expectations. Malus and clawback provisions will apply."It's sweet sodall compared to MRO Directors' incentive scheme. Haven't you bothered to read your own company's Annual Reports?
pike fisherman
19 Mar 2018
Anne Stevens .... .... 390k shares to perform. Surely she should be doing that anyway!!!!
Kingel
19 Mar 2018
ADVFN Elsewhere, the GKN/Melrose saga continued as Dana Inc, which has agreed to combine with GKN's Driveline business, said the new combined business will hold a standard listing on the London Stock Exchange, in addition to being listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It also said the combined group would create a US and UK-led global leader in vehicle drive systems and electric propulsion, that was well-suited to address the long-term demands of global customers, expecting to deliver $235m (£170m) in synergies.Meanwhile, Melrose said that its final offer of 466p in value today and 60% of future value creation, was “clearly superior” to the “hasty break-up” being pursued by the GKN board. GKN was in the black while Melrose retreated.
Kingel
19 Mar 2018
Melrose is poised to add £1 billion to pension Melrose is poised to offer to funnel £1bn into GKN's pension fund in a last-ditch attempt to win its £8.1bn bid for the engineering giant.The industrial turnaround firm is understood to be in talks with GKN's pension trustees to hike its to around £1bn.GKN's pension deficit of between £700m and £2.2bn has been one of many sticking points between the two firms, and it has spurred MPs and The Pensions Regulator to .Melrose last week for the FTSE 100 stalwart to £8.1bn from a previous offer of £7.4bn. GKN has battled against Melrose's hostile takeover advances, which began in January, instead for $6.1bn (£4.4bn).Melrose took a hit last week as Jupiter Asset Management, one of the largest shareholders in engineering giant GKN, refused to support its bid for GKN.The development came as major GKN customer Airbus said it would be “practically impossible” to award the company new work if the bid went ahead.[link] and Melrose declined to comment.
iolat
18 Mar 2018
Re: THIS IS MONEY - GKN telling fibs her salary payment will only be a fraction of what Melrose bosses are likely to get. Melrose to up payments in pension fund to £ 1 billion to satisfy regulators? On sale of breakup of GKN units. Melrose are now getting a bit desperate to do this GKN deal, not sure what options they would have if they fail. The more the promises the less their shareholders get. GKN could also sell off their own units without paying hundreds of millions to Melrose bosses.
nick2name
18 Mar 2018
Re: THIS IS MONEY - GKN telling fibs 'The payout for GKN chief executive Anne Stevens has not been set out, but it is likely to be worth several million pounds.'i've really got a major problem with thisour hard-headed octo/septogenerian negotiator doesn't know her own salary???????don't worry love, we'll sort it out later, when the panick's over? - really???????????my opinion to my co-shareholders - vote melrose - you won't see a better offer-until our businesses are sold by the new bod
pike fisherman
18 Mar 2018
THIS IS MONEY - GKN telling fibs GKN bosses line up £70m Melrose-style bonus haul: Fury as documents reveal plans to sell motor arm on the cheap to beat takeoverConcerns GKN is selling its automotive arm Driveline on the cheapDocuments released by GKN show it has quietly cut the price tag by £800mGKN disclosed a share bonus plan for managers if they beat off the takeoverBosses of engineering giant GKN could pocket up to £70million of bonuses if they fend off a hostile £8billion takeover bid from Melrose, we can reveal.The revelation comes amid concerns that, as part of its defence against the bid, GKN is selling off its automotive arm Driveline on the cheap.Documents released by GKN show it has quietly cut the price tag previously placed on the business by £800million.Revelations of the incentives at GKN are likely to expose top bosses to accusations of hypocrisy. Its supporters have slammed Melrose for short-termism and for high pay.Tucked away in the documents setting out its defence against the Melrose bid, GKN disclosed a £70million share bonus plan for around 400 managers if they beat off the takeover and then hit three-year targets.The payout for GKN chief executive Anne Stevens has not been set out, but it is likely to be worth several million pounds. The Mail on Sunday revealed in January that Melrose's four executives could share a bonus pot of around £300million if they succeed in taking over GKN and doubling its value.Unions and MPs have condemned Melrose for what they see as its short-term approach. Jeremy Corbyn has accused it of being out to 'make a quick buck'. The GKN bonus scheme runs over three years, meaning it pays out two years earlier than Melrose's.Stefan Stern, director of the High Pay Centre, said: 'It is not as much as the people from Melrose are in line to receive, though £70 million is still an awful lot of money. But the real issue is the short-term time horizon.'The people running GKN are not following through the logic of their own position. 'If they really want to make the point that they are all about long-term stewardship they should have put their money where their mouth is and made a longer commitment for their own bonus scheme to run for at least five or preferably ten years. 'That would have shown an unequivocal commitment to creating value for shareholders in the long-termGKN: Driveline is set to sold to US firm DanaGKN plans to keep its aerospace division but sell its automotive and powder metallurgy arms. Ms Stevens wants to sell Driveline to US firm Dana for £4.5billion.In the original defence document sent to shareholders in January, GKN put a valuation of around £5.3billion on the Driveline business, based on recent sector deals. That is £800million higher than the price agreed with Dana, fuelling concerns that the sale is being rushed through at a discount in an effort to defeat the takeover.Melrose chairman Christopher Miller last week described the Dana sale as 'hasty and ill-thought-through.' GKN argues the value of the Dana transaction is lower than the previous estimate because it is actually carrying out a merger, rather than a takeover which would have commanded a higher price tag.The deal is this weekend hanging in the balance. Melrose has been canvassing GKN shareholders directly in the hope of winning their support ahead of the March 29 deadline.It increased its final offer to £8 billion last Monday. The GKN board rebuffed the improved offer, made up of cash and shares. It was worth the equivalent of around £4.60 a share when markets closed on Friday. GKN shares ended the week at 426.9p.The offer has won support from Aviva and another major shareholder but was rejected by the GKN board. Two asset managers, Jupiter and Lancaster Investment Managers, have lined up publicly behind GKN.The approach has sent the shares soaring to the highest level sinc
pike fisherman
17 Mar 2018
Sunday Telegraph SUNDAY TELEGRAPH Alan Tovey, INDUSTRY EDITOR‘You have to question who is hostile to who,” says Simon Peckham, chief executive of Melrose. Peckham is, of course, referring to his firm’s £8.1bn bid for aerospace and car parts giant GKN, which has triggered the fiercest takeover battle the City has witnessed in a decade.It’s a provocative point. Yet the 55-year-old is relaxed as he sets out his argument from the company’s Mayfair boardroom, where it launched the largest contested bid for a UK company since Kraft’s swoop on Cadbury in 2009.Peckham says it boils down to this: GKN has been underperforming for ages and Melrose would be much better at running it. Melrose, with its record of buying struggling businesses, taking up to five years to improve them, then selling them for a big profit, is evidence of this.“It’s not right that a management team, which accepts it is not doing a good job – and revolutionised how it looks at its business since we turned up – has the opportunity to bar someone else who says ‘We can do a better job’.”Peckham insists that Melrose always prefers to do deals in private on terms that both sides agree to. Any “hostility” is from GKN’s management towards its own shareholders, he says. His case is that by fighting Melrose they are reducing their shareholders’ chances of owning a better business with different bosses.A lawyer by training, Peckham makes it all sound very logical. Still, Melrose’s approach for the Redditch-based engineer has grabbed headlines, with politicians, unions, investors and the company’s pension scheme weighing in.Melrose has been labelled a short-termist asset stripper whose plans for GKN will lead to major job losses, under-investment that will damage Britain’s industrial footprint, and wreck the 260-year-old company’s retirement scheme.Criticism has been compounded by a £285m payout that Peckham and three fellow executives stand to share if they hit ambitious growth targets after the deal. “Greedy” and “fat cat” are the more polite things said about the quartet, with calls for such a huge amount to be invested back into GKN, instead of going to just a few bosses.Peckham scoffs at the claims. “Some think we buy GKN and get handed a £285m cheque,” says Peckham. He emphasises his response. “It. Is. Not. True.” But the deal documents state that such a payout is possible.To earn that amount, he counters, Melrose would have to “do the same amount of value creation in two years as GKN has done in 250 years – we’d have to have to add £6bn.”Peckham explains he will get “nothing” until GKN’s market value – currently £7.5bn – has increased by £1bn. Adding £6bn in two years is a tough target, but Melrose’s approach has sparked a 25pc surge in GKN’s share price.Peckham is speaking on the day Airbus, GKN’s biggest customer, said it would be “practically impossible” to give the business new work if Melrose took over.“I can’t tell you we weren’t disappointed,” says Peckham about the statement from Airbus’s plain-speaking chief operating officer Tom Williams. The Melrose chief says he’s due to meet with Airbus to “alleviate their concerns” and emphasise that his company is a long-term R&D investor.However, he’s also somewhat puzzled by the news, pointing out that Airbus doesn’t ban private equity-owned companies from its supply chain. “That’s not to compare us to private equity,” Peckham is quick to say. “We don’t use their levels of leverage and we develop the companies we own.”GKN wants to merge its Driveline car parts business, while Melrose wants to hold on to it.Melrose’s track record speaks for itself, he claims, pointing to it sinking almost £500m into the other companies in its portfolio over the past five years. “Our point is that while we might not own a company forever, while we do own it we treat it as if we were going to own it forever,” he adds.He dismisses as “utter rubbish” suggestions Melrose is over-egging its past
pike fisherman
17 Mar 2018
Re: GKN to pay Lupo, you do make me laugh.
Lupo di mare
17 Mar 2018
Re: GKN to pay Just to add, if the hostile bid failed, MRO would be trading on the following for 2018 @ sp 224pP/E 22PTP £261m Revenue £2170mGrowth 10% into 2019MCap £4538m - 17 x PTPNet Debt £670m@ 150p/shareP/E 15MCap £3040 - 12 x PTPSo that's being generous considering their net debt in relation to their size, their track record of running businesses long term absent flogging off any bits and brokers' growth expectations of 10% ish.
Lupo di mare
17 Mar 2018
Re: GKN to pay PF - "If not worthless, then not a lot!!!"Now you're getting ang ry, PF. That's an indication of something..There's a big difference between something being "worthless", and "not a lot". With "worthless" you end up with nothing; with "not a lot", you have something, and that might end up being worth more, or less, as time passes. This is becoming tiresome, yet again.I did say that if I was being generous, and the hostile bid failed, MRO's sp could sink as low as 70p, or 150p if I was being generous. Quite a difference, I know, but there's no accounting for investor sentiment.But, anyway, I'm tired of responding to your illogical outbursts, and corrections to your comments, yet again, so I'll sign off.Oh, and btw, I have given my reasons for suggesting that MRO would be a sell, assuming a failed bid, which is something that has never been challenged adequately or reasonably. In fact, if the bid succeeded, I would not hold any MRO shares offered as I don't believe that MRO could manage such a large organisation.
pike fisherman
17 Mar 2018
Re: GKN to pay Lupo, in the past you’ve had a SELL recommendation and the following“Been saying that for some time RAC. Seriously, again, if I'd made good profits here, I'd at least take some profits because, without GKN, their prospects are pretty mediocre. Furthermore, this hostile bid has shone the light on MRO's fallibility.”If not worthless, then not a lot!!!
