Shares of Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) slumped more than 3% in Monday's pre-market trading after the Wall Street Journal reported that the automaker was ordered to pay damages of $2 billion to thousands of its dealers after an Ohio judge's ruling last Friday. The report said the judge was upholding a jury's verdict in a class-action suit that charged Ford with violating dealer agreements, the report said. The report added that Ford said it will appeal the trial-court ruling, which was made earlier this year. Ford shares fell about 1% in Monday's preopen trading.
Gerber Scientific, Inc. (NYSE: GRB) on Monday agreed to be bought by Vector Capital Corporation for $11.00 per share in cash, or approximately $281.8 million in total. The cash consideration represents a 24% premium to the Company's average closing share price over the last 30 days and a 35% premium to the closing share price on Friday, June 10, 2011. In addition to the cash payment, each shareholder of the Company will receive for each share they own a non-transferable right to receive contingent cash payments at future times, if recoveries are made pursuant to certain litigation claims in respect of U.S. Patent 5,537,135.
Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc. (NYSE: WEN) on Monday announced that it would sell Arby's Restaurant Group Inc. to a buyer formed by private equity firm Roark Capital Group in a deal valued at $430 million. Wendy's/Arby's will retain an 18.5% interest in Arby's. The deal comes after Wendy's/Arby's said it was exploring strategic alternatives for Arby's. Wendy's/Arby's Group expects that Arby's will be reported as a discontinued operation in Wendy's/Arby's Group's second quarter results. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.
Timberland Co. (NYSE: TBL) on Monday agreed to be acquired by VF Corporation (NYSE: VFC) for $43 a share, representing a total enterprise value of about $2 billion net of cash acquired. The share price for Timberland represents a 10% premium to its three-month trading value.
EMS Technologies (NASDAQ: ELMG) this morning agreed to be bought by Honeywell (NYSE: HON) for $33 per share in cash. The total deal is valued at $491 million.
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