Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc (SPB)

[Enterprising Investor]

Spectrum Brands gains amid hearing on DOJ suit on Assay Abloy sale (3/29/23)

By: Joshua Fineman, SA News Editor

Spectrum Brands (NYSE:SPB) rose 6.8% as a judge held a hearing in advance of a trial where the Dept. of Justice sued to block Assay Abloy (OTCPK:ASAZF) from acquiring the door hardware unit for $4.3 billion from Spectrum Brands.

The hearing started at 10am and is still going on currently before District Judge Ana C. Reyes. The trial date is set for April 17.

“The judge sounds skeptical of the DoJ’s effort to avoid litigating the fix that the parties propose," Chris DeMuth Jr, Partner, Rangeley Capital, told Seeking Alpha in an interview. "Spectrum (SPB) wants to litigate the actual non-fictional deal that they are pursuing which includes a divestiture of all of the overlap that the government complained about. The government is pursuing a form of sadism – they are trying to hurt the companies in order to inflict pain, not to fix any problem."

The DOJ sued to block the Swedish company from acquiring the door hardware unit for $4.3 billion from Spectrum Brands (SPB) back in September. Spectrum Brands' shares soared 27% on Dec. 2 after Assa announced an agreement to sell some assets to Fortune Brands Home & Security (FBIN) for $800M to try to remedy the DOJ's concerns.

DeMuth said that Spectrum Brands (SPB) is his largest and favorite position and he sees an over 80% chance of winning in court, and the shares "are quite cheap compared to their value after such a win."

"They will have to litigate the actual deal fix and such litigation hugely favors the deal," DeMuth said.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3952402-spectrum-brands-gains-amid-hearing-on-doj-suit-on-assay-abloy-sale