Semco Energy shares up; Texas Instruments' stock falls; Waste Industries makes three acquisitions

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Oct. 10 - Cap Rock Holding Corp. was given the green light Wednesday to buy Semco Energy, Inc. in a $352 million transaction.

The move sent shares of Semco up slightly after the news was released.

"It's not a done deal yet," said one analyst familiar with the energy sector. "But it does seem likely that it will go through. It's an OK deal. I think it's probably better for Cap Rock than it is for Semco, truth be told. They're getting an established utility at a bargain, essentially."

The Regulatory Commission of Alaska approved the acquisition of Semco by Cap Rock.

Elsewhere, Texas Instruments Inc. closed on its purchase of Powerprecise Solutions, an integrated circuit developer.

One sellside trader, who was not fully familiar with the deal, said the market for integrated circuits is a strong one and the move by TI, at least in principle, is a smart one.

"There's a huge market for things like this right now," he said. "Hybrid vehicles are all the rage and it seems like a good move. I'm not completely familiar with the deal, but I'm just looking at it from the nuts and bolts."

The move, however, sent shares of Texas Instruments down Wednesday. The stock fell by 0.55%.

Finally, Waste Industries USA, Inc. said it purchased the assets of three private waste haulers based in the Southeast. The move, Waste Industries USA says, will add $3.1 million in revenues to its books.

Even so, the move sent shares of Waste Industries down slightly Wednesday.

Cap Rock gets nod to buy Semco

Now that Cap Rock has the go-ahead to purchase Semco Energy, the merger is expected to settle in November.

Semco, a natural gas company based in Port Huron, Mich., accepted Cap Rock's bid of $8.15 per share earlier this year.

By 10 a.m. ET, Semco's stock was up 6 cents. The stock went on to gain 5 cents to close at $8.05 (NYSE: SEN).

"We are pleased to have completed the regulatory review process and look forward to closing the transaction in the early November timeframe," said Donald Thomason, Semco's chairman, in a statement.

"The RCA thoroughly reviewed the proposed share exchange, and I am very pleased that it found the proposed transaction to be in the public interest," said George Schreiber, Semco's chief executive officer, in the statement.

Cap Rock, through its subsidiary Cap Rock Energy Corp., distributes power to customers in Texas.

Texas Instruments buys Powerprecise

In other merger news, Texas Instruments sealed its acquisition of Powerprecise Solutions. Texas Instruments' stock was down 11 cents by 10:15 a.m. ET. The stock closed down 20 cents at $36.39 (NYSE: TXN).

Powerprecise is a Herndon, Va.-based fabless portable power management integrated circuit company.

"Acquiring Powerprecise allows TI to accelerate development of battery and power-management [integrated circuits] for consumer, automotive, medical, computing and industrial applications, such as robotics, power tools, electric, bicycles, as well as large battery systems, such as those used in hybrid-electric vehicles and uninterruptible power supply systems," said a statement from the company.

"Designers continue to demand innovative power management solutions to address complex battery power challenges," said David Heacock, senior vice president of TI's analog business, in a news release.

"This acquisition is a tremendous opportunity for us to add key talent, technology and product streams to TI's wide-reaching power-management business," said Gary Davison, CEO of Powerprecise, in a news release.

"By taking advantage of advanced silicon processes, we will provide innovative technology that will help customers drive performance and value, and differentiate their products."

Waste Industries makes three acquisitions

Elsewhere, Waste Industries USA acquired three hauling operations.

The move sent shares of Waste Industries down by 1.47% on Wednesday.

Waste Industries bought the assets and customers of Sanitech/AWD, LLC, a private residential waste hauler operating in the west Atlanta suburbs. The company also purchased the hauling operations and customers of Saunders Superior Services, Inc., a private hauling company serving the Wilmington, N.C., area. Finally, Waste Industries acquired the assets and customers of Tyson Sanitation Services, Inc., a private residential waste hauler operating in eastern North Carolina.

According to a statement released Wednesday, the company said the acquisitions will add $3.1 million to Waste Industries' annualized revenues.

"These acquisitions are a continuation of our long-stated goal to internalize more waste into our landfills and to build dense routes, which should enable us to provide high-quality, efficient and cost-effective waste services to our customers," said Ven Poole, vice president of corporate development for Waste Industries, in a statement.

Waste Industries, based in Raleigh, N.C., is a non-hazardous solid waste services company.

On Wednesday, shares of Waste Industries closed down 41 cents to end at $27.46 (Nasdaq: WWIN). The stock lost another 2 cents in after-hours trading.

TORR to buy Pure Group

In Canadian merger news, TORR Canada Inc. said Wednesday its shareholders approved its acquisition of Pure Group AS in a transaction that includes C$10.9 million in cash, the issuance of 15,419,545 shares of TORR and the refinancing of a C$7.5 million existing loan.

On Wednesday, TORR's stock edged up by 1 cent, or 1.75%, to close at C$0.58 (Toronto: TOR).

Montreal-based TORR provides water treatment to the oil and gas industry. Pure Group is a Norwegian company that provides oil, gas and water purification services.

Now that the shareholders have given their nod, the acquisition is set to close before the end of October.

"The completion of this acquisition brings us one step closer to our goal of becoming a global provider of process solutions for the upstream oil and gas industry," said Alain Ferland, TORR's CEO, in a news release.

"We believe this acquisition will quickly bring added value to our customers and our shareholders."

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.