NEW YORK, Jan 8 (Reuters) - TD Ameritrade Holding Corp AMTD.O has agreed to buy thinkorswim Group Inc SWIM.O in a $606 million deal that establishes the U.S. online broker as a leader in the fast-growing area of options and futures trading. The deal is expected to yield $55 million in revenues and cost savings, primarily from retiring thinkorswim's clearing contract when it retires at the end of next year. This values thinkorswim at $8.71 per share, a 54 percent premium over Wednesday's closing price of $5.65. Ameritrade management said on a conference call that it expects the deal to boost fiscal 2010 earnings by 3 percent to 7 percent, and by 10 percent to 15 percent after thinkorswim is fully integrated, in about two years. The proposed acquisition gives shareholders of thinkorswim 0.3980 of an Ameritrade share plus $3.34 in cash for each of their shares. "It was a very good time to pick up an attractive asset at an attractive price," Ameritrade Chief Executive Fred Tomczyk told Reuters. The stock and cash takeover announced Thursday would bolster Ameritrade's industry-leading trading business, and allow it to challenge Charles Schwab Corp's (SCHW.O) standing at the top of the industry. Ameritrade shares fell 2.7 percent on Thursday while thinkorswim shares, which plummeted 69 percent last year, recovered nearly two thirds of that lost value.
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