Learning About Business by Surfing Around

Sometimes it's fun to explore the internet without any plans - just following links and "googling" interesting phrases.

This morning, I started off reading an article about an American sumo wrestler who set a world record for heaviest finisher of a marathon.

One of the comments was a joke that the sumo guy would cause a shortage in Gold Bond medical powder - in other words, a joke about chafing.

I remember hearing commercials for Gold Bond years ago so, feeling nostalgic, I googled it and went to the Wikipedia site.

From there, I learned that a lot of cool products from the past - like Gold Bond, Icy Hot, Selsun Blue, etc. are made in Chattanooga Tennessee by Chattem, a 100 year old company.

The Chattem Wikipedia entry mentioned that they are a subsidiary of French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis, which sounds very interesting. An old time Chattanooga company owned by a French drugmaker.

It makes me think of the "Beverly Hillbillies"'s Jed Clampett mingling with a French aristocrat. So, I googled the merger.

Turns out that Sanofi bought Chattem in 2009 on December 21 (my brother's birthday). They paid $1.9 billion - offering $93.50/share, which was a 34% premium over the closing price.

From an analysis point of view, it looks like it was a good deal. Chattem is in the top 10 for consumer products in the U.S. (and has a higher profit margin than leaders Johnson & Johnson and Proctor & Gamble), but they don't have much market overseas. Sanofi is losing patent protection from many drugs, and wants the stable earnings from consumer products to make up the lost income. Also, they want a sales network to sell an over-the-counter version of Allegra in the U.S.

So, it was a win-win deal for everyone.

Finally, I saw an interesting article on the Wall Street Journal that 2 French businessmen in Brussels got charged by the SEC for insider trading on the Sanofi-Chattem deal. They found out about the deal before hand, bought options (expiring on Jan 15) on Chattem stock, and sold the options right after the merger was announced for a $4.2 million profit.

So I had a fun and educational "surf session" all because of a Sumo running (actually walking) a marathon :-)