Stocks Higher on Merger News

The stock market is up early today. The S&P 500 is above 1100 which is nice to see. The market is digesting some major buyout news. First, AIG is rallying on news that it’s selling its Asian unit to Britian’s Prudential for $35.5 billion.
The German Merck is buying Millipore (MIL) for $6 billion. Millipore is a toolmaker in the biotech sector. Last week, Thermo Fisher (TMO) began the bidding war for Millipore and Merck seems to have ended it. Finally, MSCI (MXB) is acquiring RiskMetrics (RISK) for $1.55 billion.
The market is also talking about the news that the board at Goldman Sachs (GS) has rejected a proposal on executive compensation from some of its shareholders, though I’m not familiar with the specifics of the proposal. One thing is certain: Goldman will be heavily criticized.

Posted by on March 1st, 2010 at 9:50 am


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