Anheuser-Busch Cos. (BUD) - InBev

September 5, 2008 (1:20p) - Status Report

The German Federal Cartel Office formally approved this transaction on August 20, 2008.

The UK Office of Fair Trading initiated a review for this transaction on August 28, 2008. The OFT has established a public comment period deadline of September 11, 2008. As there is no record of this deal with the European Commission, the OFT will likely be the primary European regulatory approval required. This case is not likely to be referred by the OFT to the EC for review, although this can not be completely ruled out at this time. OFT approval is currently expected in a late-September / early-October time frame.

InBev has scheduled a shareholder meeting associated with this transaction for September 29, 2008.

There continues to be the perception of this publication that the pending HSR second request is essentially a non-issue in terms of the deal being successfully completed. The FTC's interest remains believed to be "procedural" in nature, as opposed to being based in competition concerns. The bottom line here is that no antitrust issues exist in this proposed merger, so HSR clearance will ultimately be obtained without much difficulty or extremely lengthy delays. In a worst-case scenario, the FTC review would continue into December 2008 or January 2009.

*ImClone Systems (IMCL) - Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY)

September 5, 2008 (12:40p) - Status Report

This proposed transaction remains somewhat of an enigma a month after the initial assessment. There are no substantial developments of note related to BMY's current offer, from either side, although there have been several scattered analytical pieces focusing on IMCL's "Erbitux" product use expansion as a catalyst for an increased offer. However, this is no revelation, as IMCL's pipeline products -- particularly "IMC-11F8" -- are the obvious rationale for BNY, or any party interested in IMCL.

This is increasingly looking to become yet another attrition situation, where both sides become entrenched in their respective positions with respect to the buyout offer. Clearly, IMCL, led by Carl Icahn, will not seriously consider the $60 per share offer at any point in the near future. Under the current and foreseeable future circumstances, nothing less than a $70 per share offer will be necessary simply to draw IMCL into negotiations. As BMY does not seem inclined to increase its offer to that level at this time, the stalemate could very easily continue for several months without any real developments.

$Longs Drug Stores (LDG) - CVS Caremark (CVS)

September 5, 2008 (10:20a) - Status Report

As widely reported, CTW Investment Group has joined other major LDG investors in openly questioning the valuation of this transaction -- particularly with respect to LDG's real estate holdings. This is precisely the type of shareholder concern discussed in the previous entry which could easily serve to force CVS to increase its current offer and/or disrupt the transaction in general.

Despite, LDG's subsequent (and rather tentative) claims that shareholders will ultimately accept the current offer, the legal and public shareholder problems are clearly escalating to the point where the company management must consider renegotiating with CVS.