Exceed Co. (NASDAQ: EDS), the Chinese apparel maker brought public through 2020 ChinaCap Acquiro, announced that it will accept warrants in exchange for shares on a 3.96:1 basis. The deal offers warrant holders a quick, guaranteed option into the company’s shares and to Exceed execs, to them it offers a quick chance to curb dilution. The offer begins Nov. 30, and will continue for 20 business days after; at the end of the offer, Exceed warrants’ old rules revert back into place.

Next week’s deal has Tremisis Energy Acquisition II (AMEX: TGY) looking to bring public Asiana IDT, a Korean information technology firm, on Dec. 1. The SPAC is one of two that were redirected by Sang Chul-Kim when the Korean businessman assumed control; North Shore Acquisition (OTC: NSAQ) is his other buyout vehicle. That SPAC has until Dec. 5 to complete its merger, although it aims to extend that until March 2010.

Camden Learning (OTC: CAEL) completed its deal to buy National American University, an online college operator. The SPAC’s success came on an $8 million forward contract with an unnamed investor; it looks as if there is another player in the blank check market looking to fill Victory Park Capital Advisors’ shoes.

For more on these mergers and other deal votes, please visit www.SPACupdate.com.

NRDC Acquisition Co. (AMEX: NAQ) is mimicking the expected success of SPACs that are buying or have bought REITs—except, instead of trying to buy one, like Capitol Acquisition Co. (AMEX: CLA) or Enterprise Acquisition Co. (AMEX: EST), the $414 million SPAC has elected to become one, with its shareholders expected approval on Oct. 20. For a while, NRDC shares have traded above their redemption value, making that SPAC and 2020 ChinaCap two of the three currently trading at such a high value. Shares are trading at around $10.40, about five percent above trust. Recently, warrants were trading at around $1.05 and market sources have indicated the blank check’s deal will be pushed through.

Investors have not been as high on Triplecrown Acquisition Co. (AMEX: TCW), the SPAC that looks to bring public Natural Dairy, a subsidiary of Cullen Agricultural Technologies. The SPAC wants to buy the milk farm process optimizer that will also use proceeds from the $552 million blank check to buy distressed properties—namely, farmland. It is expected that on Oct. 21, the SPAC will convene shareholders for a deal vote; the blank check only has until Oct. 22 before it will be forced to liquidate without a completed merger. Shares have been trading recently at around $9.24, more than $0.50 off trust, and warrants are selling for a mere $0.09.

Brought exclusively by the SPACupdate.com team.

October 19, 2009

As a reminder, back on May 13 we saw the landmark announcement whereH-P was paying $25.00 per share to buy Electronic Data Systems (NYSE:EDS).  The deal has already been approved by EDS shareholders. The combined value of this deal was estimated at $13.9 Billionand would more than double H-P’s IT services revenues.  H-P showed$16.6 Billion in IT services revenues in 2007.  This was enough of atransformative deal that brought up comparisons to the IBM (NYSE: IBM)of old before the Lenovo sale, and it even took away "some" of thedirect comparisons between H-P and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) thatinvestors have maintained for years.

This acquisition and a softening economy have combined to keep a lid onthe stock of H-P after its monumental post-Hurd share rise.  Before theEDS rumors came out, this was a $49.00 stock and the current handle is$43.50; its 52-week trading range is $39.99 to $53.48.

So far, 2008 has been a very disappointing year for shareholders.Shares peaked in late-2007.  From the start of 2005 H-P shares ran from$20 and peaked out at that late-$2007 level giving a gain of more than150%.  Its market cap now sits at $107 Billion.

Analysts are still very positive on H-P as the price targets are about$56.00.  That would the shares above highs not seen since 2000 beforethe tech bubble burst.  The charts are around some key levels as thestock just fell under its 50-day moving average (now $44.58).  Sharesused the 200-day moving average as resistance in June and failed tobreak above that level for any longer than a few minutes.  The 200-daymoving average now sits at $46.64.  With shares having traded to $41.00at the worst levels in July and with these key long-term movingaverages above today’s prices after shares failed to rally above$46.00, it would be easy to say there is a lot of resistance above.

Options traders appear braced for a move of $2.00 to $2.45 in eitherdirection.  That implies again that shares would not quite run intomajor resistance nor would they bust through old major support levels(assuming the options traders are correct).

What will be more interesting than the actual report is the progressreport on their transformation and how this guidance will affectrevenues and earnings on a post-integrated HP-EDS out into 2009.

Jon C. Ogg
August 19, 2008

• Aeropostale (ARO) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
• Amgen (AMGN) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
• Dr. Pepper Snapple (DPS) Raised to Buy at UBS.
• Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• Energizer Holdings (ENR) Raised To Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
• Paccar (PCAR) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
• Petro Brasileiro-Petrobras- (PBR) Started as Overweight at HSBC.
• Ralcorp (RAH) Raised to Buy at Lehman.
• SAP AG ADR (SAP) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
• Urban Outfitters (URBN) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
• Visa (V) Started as Buy at KeyBanc.

Jon C. Ogg
July 29, 2008

• Cameco (NYSE: CCJ) raised to Outperform at FBR.
• Electronic Data Systems (NYSE: EDS) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
• Genzyme (NASDAQ: GENZ) started as Buy at UBS.
• Gushan Environmental (NYSE: GU) Raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray.
• Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
• Steel Dynamics (NASDAQ: STLD) Raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
• Transocean (NYSE: RIG) Raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
• VeriSign (NASSDAQ: VRSN) Raised to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
• Wachovia (NYSE: WB) Raised to Neutral from Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
• XenoPort (NASDAQ: XNPT) Raised to Outperform from Market Perform at FBR.

Jon C. Ogg
July 9, 2008

Estimates for next quarter are still $0.34 EPS and are still $15.59 Billion in revenues, and estimates for fiscal January 2009 are up a penny to $1.51 EPS on a slightly higher $64.62 Billion in revenues.

Analysts have a price target average north of $25.00, which is lower than targets had been on previous reports.  The stock has performed poorly since topping out at over $30.00 last year, but the good news is that the stock has also come back rather well off its lows.  At $21.69, it is still in the lower-end of its 52-week trading range of $18.13 to $30.77.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) has already given the "all-clear" sign and it has made a huge game changing offer to buy EDS (NYSE: EDS).  You have to wonder if things are going to stay status quo at Dell, or if the company would consider a game-changing deal.  The truth is that Dell could do a game-changing deal if it wants to.  But this is a huge unknown, and the company may want to get its entire restructuring plan more than half-way through before it would even consider such a plan.

Michael Dell has already greatly expanded its retail distribution channels to major retailers in the U.S. and abroad.  He’s also announced a restructuring and layoffs.  Dell also noted that it wasn’t to expand upon its company-owned store initiatives in comments yesterday.

Today we’ll also get to see how much cash the company has really used for its monster share buyback plan it previously announced.  If it bought a lot of stock, the slide abatement has only been seen in May.  That major slide started in November and didn’t end until last month.

Dell still has some problems, much of which may be tied to shareholder pressure to do more.  But if the company can maintain estimates or outperform on estimates it looks more than fairly priced for a value stock or for GARP investors.

As a reminder, Dell’s annual shareholder meeting is about six weeks away and scheduled for July 18, 2008.

Jon C. Ogg
May 29, 2008

Dell may need to grow through M&A, but Sun will never be a target.

EDS helps build on a strength that HP was already expanding. Services are a large and growing portion of the HP revenue stream. In the last quarter, that operation brought in $4.4 billion of HP’s $28.8 billion in revenue. EDS augments that with another $5.5 billion to $6 billion a quarter. EDS runs an operating margin of about 6% on that.

Dell has a low-end server business and Sun markets more expensive servers. One of the troubles with buying out Sun is that companies are moving away from large and expensive servers and in the direction of the cheap servers marketed by Dell and HP. Sun’s products have become a part of a dying age of IT.

Sun also adds nothing to Dell’s operating income. The company only breaks even now, and revenue growth is at zero. Dell cannot take a lot of cost out of Sun. The operation is already cut to the bone.

Sun has enough trouble that it may not be an M&A target at all.

Douglas A. McIntyre

First Call has the computer giant posting earnings at $0.33 EPS on $15.66 Billion in revenues.  Estimates for next quarter are $0.34 EPS and $15.59 Billion, and estimates for fiscal January 2009 are $1.50 EPS on $64.58 Billion.

So the question looms…. as Dell started its share buyback and announced job cuts, would the company consider a transformational deal to challenge H-P?

Jon C. Ogg
May 25, 2008

• Barr Pharma (NYSE: BRL) raised to Outperform from Neutral at Cowen & Co.
• Bearingpoint (NYSE: BE) Cut to Hold from Buy at Citigroup
• Electronic Data Systems (NYSE: EDS) Cut to Sell from Hold at Citigroup; cut to Market Perform at FBR.
• Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) was removed from the Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List, although its BUY rating was maintained.
• Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
• McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP) and Moody’s (NYSE: MCO) both started as Buy in new coverage at Jefferies.
• RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) raised to Market Perform at RBC.
• Senior Housing Properties (NYSE: SNH) Cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.
• Smith & Nephew (NYSE: SNN) Cut to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
• Sovereign Bancorp (NYSE: SOV) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.

Jon C. Ogg
May 13, 2008

Reuters writes that AIG (AIG) says it sees no reason to follow the request of its ex-CEO to the company”s annual meeting.

Reuters writes that Staples (SPLS) has raised its hostile bid for Corporate Express.

Reuters reports that Nissan reported a large drop in earnings and said that the next year would be disappointing due to higher commodities prices and weak US market..

Reuters writes that Microsoft (MSFT) has launched WorldWide Telescope, free software for exploring outer space.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Dell (DELL) is trying to reinvenet its high end game computer business.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Exxon (XOM) management has asked investors to reject a move to have the company elect a separate chairman and CEO.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Beazer (BZH) will restate is results for nine years.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Merrill Lynch (MER) tried to convince investors that it has enough capital and will not have to raise money.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Clear Channel (CCU) is near a deal to complete its LBO.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Dish Network (DISH) is losing subscriber growth momentum.

The New York Times writes that Nissan will sell an electric car in the US by 2010.

The New York Times writes that Wachovia (WB) faces a inquiry over auction-rate securities.

The FT writes that UBS (UBS) sees further problems in the US housing business.

Bloomberg writes that Toyota (TM) will cut discounts on its Prius hybrid as the cost of gas rises

Douglas A McIntyre