Landry's, Greenfield go private; exchanges get DoJ approval; satellite radios get FCC chair nod

By Aaron Hochman-Zimmerman

New York, June 16 - On a flat and quiet day for equities, shares of Landry's Restaurants Inc. and Greenfield Online Inc. were soaring as each was taken private by Fertitta Holdings Inc. and the Quadrangle Group LLC, respectively.

Fermenting political interests in Missouri continued to float to the top of the discussion over what Gov. Matt Blunt and Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., might do to keep Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. American-owned.

Federal approval in some form or another helped share prices for Nymex Holdings Inc. and CME Group Inc. as well as XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.

Elsewhere, at Yahoo! Inc. the battle-royal still raged over what is to become.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended off by 38.27, or 0.31%, at 12,269.08, while the Nasdaq Composite Index added 20.28, or 0.83%, to finish at 2,474.78.

The S&P 500 gained 0.11, or 0.01%, to close at 1,360.14.

Quadrangle to privatize Greenfield

Greenfield investors saw their shares climbing as the company announced it would be taken private by the Quadrangle Group for $15.50 per share in cash, or a total value of nearly $426 million.

The price represents a premium of about 17% over the stock's Friday closing price.

"Clearly Quadrangle values Greenfield Online's two growing and profitable businesses, Comparison Shopping and Internet Survey Solutions, along with their global leadership position, satisfied clients and talented employees," said Albert Angrisani, Greenfield Online's president and chief executive officer in a statement.

For his part, Gordon Holmes, managing principal of Quadrangle said in the statement: "Having followed Greenfield Online closely over an extended period, we became increasingly impressed with its international leadership position in online comparison shopping and survey research, as well as its record of strong growth."

The deal is expected to close late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter.

Shares of Greenfield Online (Nasdaq: SRVY) jumped $1.60, or 12.05%, to close the day at $14.88.

Landry's big score

Landry's Restaurants, owners of downtown Las Vegas' Golden Nugget, scored big as it announced it will be acquired by Fertitta Holdings for $21 per share or $1.3 billion, which includes approximately $885.0 million of debt.

Shares of Landry's (NYSE: LNY) hit the jackpot to the tune of $2.98, or 17.75%, to end at $19.77.

The price represents a premium of 37% over the last trading day before disclosure of the revised offer made by Tilman Fertitta to acquire the company, April 3.

The agreement does contain a "go shop" provision which will be active for the next 45 days.

FCC chair give nod to radio deal

FCC chairman Kevin Martin gave the proverbial wink and nod to a conditioned combination of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio, but unfortunately for the broadcasters they will need more than just the chairman's support.

The four other commissioners now have to weigh in, a market source said.

Sirius is believed to have accepted the terms set out by Martin, including price caps on service fees, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The broadcasters' stocks were slightly improved on the developments.

Shares of XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR) added $0.08, or 3.15%, to end at $2.62.

Shares of Sirius Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) tacked on $0.43, or 3.96%, to finish at $11.30.

A BUD-ing political fight

Missouri governor Matt Blunt wrote to the FTC saying "show me" some oversight of the proposed purchase of Anheuser-Busch by Belgium's InBev.

"I am deeply troubled by the recent attempt by InBev to purchase the St. Louis-based company, Anheuser-Busch," Blunt wrote in a letter to the FTC chairman William Kovacic.

The political tone has become more high pitched over Anheuser-Busch whose "direct company operations in St. Louis have a $3.8 billion economic impact on the region and $5 billion total impact to Missouri's economy. When considering the company's domestic operations as a whole, Anheuser-Busch has contributed $36 billion to the U.S. Gross National Product," Blunt's statement said.

After the announcement of the offer, Blunt instructed the Missouri Department of Economic Development to "explore every option and any opportunity we may have at the state level to help keep Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, Mo."

Blunt joined Sen. Kit Bond who wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey last Thursday seeking strict federal oversight of the deal.

Meanwhile, a market source noted that InBev notified Anheuser-Busch that, as far as Anheuser-Busch's new interest in acquiring Grupo Modelo is concerned, the $65 per share offer applies to Anheuser-Busch in as-is condition.

Shares of Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD) slid by $0.59, or 0.97%, to close the session at $60.53.

Yahoo!, where to from here?

As the wrangling continued over Yahoo!, Investor Eric Jackson proposed a third option to split the board between five from the original members, four from Carl Icahn's team.

Jackson still favors Icahn to win outright, but his alternative solution to the Yang-Bostock vs. Icahn sparring match may serve to prevent some gridlock.

An equity analyst said many on the Street are wondering where the road leads for the comedy troupe.

Some have said that by striking an ad-sharing deal with Google Inc., Yahoo! ran from the water (Microsoft Corp. in this case) and into the fire...Google.

Icahn's future plans for the Yahoo! board are not apparent, with no extra clarity coming from his abortive New York Post blog. (Yes, Prospect News checked.)

Shares of Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) improved by $0.07, or 0.30%, to end the session at $23.54.

Shares of Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) dipped $0.14, or 0.48%, to $28.93.

Shares of Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) picked up $1.30, or 0.23%, to $572.81.

Nymex, CME win Justice approval

The exchanges traded higher on their own accounts after the Department of Justice waved on their merger.

"We believe that our combination with Nymex will generate $60 million in cost synergies for shareholders as well as generate compelling growth opportunities. We look forward to working together to integrate our exchanges and create long-term value for our shareholders," said CME Group chairman Terry Duffy in a statement.

Still, the approval of the Department of Justice was not the final obstacle in the path for the two.

"We are very pleased to receive DoJ's consent today following their rigorous review process, and we now look forward to achieving the other milestones that are necessary to successfully complete the Nymex acquisition," said CME chief executive officer Craig Donohue in the statement.

"In addition to facilitating the combination of our two companies, DoJ's unconditional consent, together with Congress' recent reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for an additional five-year period, in our view provides even further validation of the effectiveness and competitiveness of the exchange- owned clearing model," he said.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Shares of Nymex (NYSE: NMX) took on $1.66, or 1.89%, to close at $89.58.

Shares of CME (NYSE: CME) were better by $4.51, or 1.09%, to $419.41.

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