NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A big chill blew through frozen dessert sector Monday after the bell rang, while a biomedical implant company met Wall Street's expectations and an online mortgage company got behind the wheel of a Net deal.
Yogen Fruz Worldwide Inc.
Yogurt maker Yogen Fruz Worldwide Inc. put the chill on a bid by an undisclosed private investor group to buy all of Eskimo Pie Corp. (EPIE) stock for $10.125 per share.
The Toronto-based Yogen Fruz, the largest shareholder of the Richmond, Va.-based Eskimo Pie, said it will not support the offer, which was made earlier on Monday, claiming it "understates the asset value of Eskimo by at least one-third."
Michael Serruya, co-president and co-chief executive officer of Yogen Fruz, said the proposal "would clearly be a better deal for Eskimo's current management than for the shareholders."
Eskimo Pie said it had received a letter from its second-largest shareholder, Peak Management Inc., expressing support for the sale. David Kewer, Eskimo's president and CEO, was invited to be a part of the offeror's group.
Medtronic Inc.
Medtronic Inc. (MDT), the No. 1 maker of implantable biomedical devices, including the most prescribed pacemaker, had its heart in the right place with Wall Street.
The Minneapolis-based company reported first-quarter profit of $248.9 million, or 42 cents a share, up 9 percent from the year-ago period and matched First Call Corp.'s analysts' estimate.
Revenues were $1.1 billion, an 11.4 percent increase over the comparable period a year ago. After excluding a $2.3 million loss due to foreign currency translation, quarterly revenues increased 11.6 percent.
"We expect our full pipeline of new products will result in continued acceleration of Medtronic's revenue growth throughout the fiscal year," William W. George, chairman and CEO, said in a statement.
Revenue from the cardiac-rhythm-management product line grew 20 percent to $584 million, led by a 60 percent gain in defibrillator sales. Worldwide pacemaker revenues increased to more than 7 percent.
E-Loan Inc.
Online mortgage company E-Loan Inc. (EELN) got in the driver's seat by announcing an agreement to acquire online auto loan provider CarFinance.com from Bank of America (BAC). The Dublin, Calif.-based E-Loan will purchase CarFinance.com for 2.88 million shares of E-Loan, valuing the deal at about $67 million.
As part of the transaction, E-Loan will enter into a broad agreement with Bank of America, where the nation's largest bank will become a shareholder and Bank of America executives will form a task force with E-Loan officials to collaborate on new electronic offerings.
Cheap Tickets Inc.
Honolulu-based Cheap Tickets Inc. (CTIX) announced the pricing of its public offering of 5 million shares at $38 per share. Half the shares were offered by the company and half were offered by existing shareholders.
The offering was managed by William Blair & Co. L.L.C., Dain Rauscher Wessels, CIBC World Markets Corp. and Volpe Brown Whelan & Co. Inc.
Net proceeds from the offering are expected to be used for advertising and brand development, development of technological infrastructure, international expansion, possible acquisitions and general corporate purposes.
Check S&P futures trading on Globex
Check the latest market story from Asia
Tuesday Preview
On Tuesday, all eyes will be on the Federal Open Market Committee which is scheduled to meet to decide if interest rates will be raised. Analysts expected the body to increase short-term interest rates a quarter notch to 5.25 percent. 
|
