William "Bill" Ackman, founder and chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management LP, speaks during the 19th Annual Sohn Investment Conference in New York, U.S., on Monday, May 5, 2014.Chris Goodney/Bloomberg
DEAL OF THE DAY
Chartwell strikes again
Chartwell Retirement Residences is paying $254-million to buy five Ontario retirement residences from five distinct sellers.
The real estate investment trust has spent $587-million on acquisitions this year. In July, the company paid $85-million to buy a retirement residence in Toronto.
Mississauga-based Chartwell currently has 25,000 seniors living in its 180 facilities. Press release
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
Another U.S. regional bank deal
KeyCorp is acquiring First Niagara Financial Group for $4.1-billion (U.S.). This was the second mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deal in the the U.S. regional bank sector this week.
On Thursday, New York Community Bancorp Inc. announced it was buying Astoria Financial Corp for approximately $2-billion (U.S.)
In early 2015, Royal Bank of Canada shelled out $5.4-billion to buy Los Angeles-based City National Bank. Full story
INSIGHT
National to proceed with trading ban
National Bank of Canada is plowing ahead with plans to bar its financial markets employees from trading stocks for their personal accounts.
The policy, believed to be a first for a Canadian bank is set to take effect in March, 2016, and is aimed at removing any conflicts of interest that could arise from the practice.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail soon after the new policy was announced, Brian Davis, co-chief executive officer of National Bank Financial Inc. admitted there had been some push-back from employees and said that he "may entertain other variations" of the rules.
In a follow-up interview on Friday, Mr. Davis said that there will be "no amendments whatsoever" to the stock trading policy.
"Not everyone is a full-on convert. But I think there is now widespread acceptance that we had sensible reasons to do what we did," he added.
TRENDING ON TWITTER
Herbalife rubs Ackman's nose in it
Fifteen minutes before Bill Ackman started his epically long conference call on Friday morning to defend Pershing Square Capital Management's continuing massive position in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Alan Hoffman, vice-president of global corporate affairs with Herbalife, issued the following statement: "I hope Bill Ackman has done more research on Valeant than he did on Herbalife, Target, Borders and [J.C. Penney]."
The release went viral with hordes of twitterites giving Herbalife virtual high fives for a nicely executed and perfectly timed troll.
For the uninitiated, Mr. Hoffman was highlighting a number of Mr. Ackman's regrettable investments, including a well-publicized short position in Herbalife itself. Mr. Ackman has been shorting shares of the nutritional products company since 2012 and famously trashed the company on national television in January, 2013. The trade however, has not worked out well, with Herbalife shares appreciating in the interim.
Mr. Ackman's hedge fund has made a number of profitable investments in its time – notably the big swing it took on Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and a sweet trade in Allergan last year. But 2015 has not been a good year for Mr. Ackman.
When he cashed out of Allergan earlier this year, he funnelled the proceeds into Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. Disastrous decision. Allergan shares have gone up since he left, and … well, you probably know what's happened with Valeant. Incidentally, Mr. Ackman's nearly-four hour call on Friday did little to reassure Valeant investors. The stock closed down another 17.5 per cent. Herbalife press release
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