FACTBOX-Spreads of U.S. mergers and acquisitions

Tue Apr 8, 2008 11:50pm IST

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  April 8 (Reuters) - The following list shows the arbitrage spread for
proposed mergers and acquisitions of U.S. companies.

 Historically, the wider the spread, the more investors doubt a deal will
close. Arbitrage spreads measure the difference between the offered takeover
price and the target company's current trading price.

 For real-time spreads, go to <US/ARB/MENU>.
ACQUIRER NAME        TARGET NAME            DEAL      PRICE/SHARE    SPREAD%

                                         VALUE*
Microsoft Corp       Yahoo! Inc             43,246    31             11.91
Consortium           Clear Channel          19,350    39.2           37.35
CME Group            NYMEX Holdings         11,071    103.34         7.13
Ingersoll-Rand       Trane Inc              9,208     47.03          1.36
Oracle Corp          BEA Systems            7,941     19.38          0.96
Nokia                NAVTEQ Corp            7,657     78             18.13
Blackstone Capital   Alliance Data          6,433     81.75          69.68
Hexion Specialty     Huntsman Corp          6,213.    28             24.28
Consortium           Penn National          5,732     67             49.75
Sirius Satellite     XM Satellite           4,570     12.6           5.83
Iberdrola SA         Energy East            4,202     33.1           33.21
Bank of America      Countrywide            4,143     7.2            16.64
Reed Elsevier        ChoicePoint            3,576     50             3.99
Consortium           Puget Energy           3,510     30             15.21
WebMD Health         HLTH Corp              2,897     11.42          16.99
Macrovision          Gemstar TV Guide       2,724     6.35           34.25
United Tech          Diebold Inc            2,631     40             5.88
Mapfre SA            Commerce Group         2,316     36.7           1.41
Nationwide group     Nationwide Financial   2,204     47.2           -1.56
Consortium           Post Properties        2,054     47             19.81
Agrium Inc           UAP Hldg Corp          2,045     39             1.27
Hellman & Friedman   Getty Images           2,024     34             5.92
Electronic Arts      Take-Two               1,932     26             2.24
Kinetic Concepts     Lifecell Corp          1,743     51             1.07
Great Plains         Aquila Inc             1,701     3.93           17.33
JPMorgan Chase       Bear Stearns           1,693     9.91           -7.16
Gerdau SA            Quanex Corp            1,457     39.2           -25.29
Management           CKX Inc                1,334     13.75          56.96
Swingset Holdings    Bright Horizons        1,268     48.25          6.49
Dubai Int'l          Och-Ziff               1,258     33             65
VISTAR Corp          Performance Food       1,224     34.5           6.28
Fifth Third          First Charter          1,089     31             19.23
Alfa Delaware        Alfa Corp              849       22             0.41
Inverness Medical    Matria Healthcare      835       39             72.64
Consortium           Alfa Corp              797       22             0.41
BMC Software         BladeLogic Inc         775       28             0
Ansys Inc            Ansoft Corp            760       31.98          1.83
Verizon Wireless     Rural Cellular Corp    679       45             1.67
Sumitomo Heavy, TPG  Axcelis Tech           613       6              11.94
Tullett Prebon       eSpeed Inc             605       12             0
Golden Gate          Children's Place       577       24             1.31
Investor group       Cumulus Media          507       11.75          85.62
NOTE: * Deal values in millions of U.S. dollars
SOURCE: Reuters
 (Compiling by Jessica Hall; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)