Hello and thank you for the question.
I don't believe that a "top ten list" is likely avaiable for a
regional question such as this. However, I have compiled the primary
industries that are experiencing periods of consolidation in and
around Texas. These industries were the most mentioned in recent media
sources. I realize that this quetion is very time sensitive and thus
limited my research to recent sources. I hope this helps.
**************Consolidating Texas Industries*******************************
COTTEN GINS:
Delta Farm Press
August 13, 2004
HEADLINE: Industry consolidating...: Gin numbers continue downward
<<The steady decline in the number of U.S. cotton gins continued last
year, mirroring the consolidation trend in American business and
industry.>>
<<Texas has the largest percentage of small gins under 10,000 bales
per year and California has the highest percentage of large gins.
"While smaller gins provide an important service," Valco says, "it's
difficult to continue to operate with those low volumes and to afford
newer technology and meet regulatory requirements.
"There will continue to be opportunities for the consolidation and
modernization of gin plants, where production trends allow for
increased ginning volumes. In states where there are pretty high
numbers of gins with less than 5,000 bales, we would expect to see
continuing consolidation.">>
BANKING:
Financial Services Distribution
August 27, 2004
HEADLINE: US branches - it's not all growth
<<Interstate deposit share is generally closely aligned with branch
share, although the proportion of out-of-state deposits tends to be
rather higher. An extreme example is Texas, where foreigners hold no
less than 45.2 percent of deposits but have only 28.6 percent of
branches.
Altogether 11 states and the District of Columbia had more than 40
percent of their branches operated by out-of-state banks in mid-2003
(see figure 2). The subsequent rash of large interstate mergers and
acquisitions will undoubtedly sharply increase this foreign element in
many states.>>
Daily Deal/The Deal
September 3, 2004 Friday
HEADLINE: Wells Fargo to buy Texas bank
<<San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. agreed Thursday, Sept. 2 to
buy First Community Capital Corp.of Houston for about $123.7 million
in stock to deepen its penetration in the Texas market.
Wells Fargo is now the third-largest bank in Texas with a 7.7% share
of the deposit market and more than 500 branches ? including 103
branches in the Houston area. First Community Capital will add $553
million in assets and 17 additional locations, mostly in Houston.>>
San Antonio Express-News
June 26, 2004, Saturday
<<In the field of mergers and acquisitions, the biggest players --
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America -- get the most
lucrative deals. In fact, because of high overhead, they only go after
the juiciest financial fruit.
A spate of industry consolidations since 2002 pushed their criteria
for deals above $ 100 million in many cases.
That has created room for new regional players, such as San
Antonio-based McKinley Securities, to scoop up smaller deals.>>
STUDENT LOANS:
The Houston Chronicle
April 19, 2004
<<"The student loan industry would be in the hands of the financial
giants," said George Torres, head of government affairs for the Texas
Guaranteed Student Loan Corp. "It would simplify the program to have a
few lenders do it, but you would lose a lot of the competition that
has made this industry work."
That's less than ideal, but Congress' recent passage of laws allowing
massive financial services mergers indicates many legislators don't
think reduced competition in the banking industry is a problem.>>
CHEMICALS INDUSTRY:
Chemical News & Intelligence
March 30, 2004
<<SAN ANTONIO, Texas (CNI)--Further consolidation in the chemicals
industry was urged on Tuesday by Jon Huntsman, founder and chairman of
the Huntsman group.
In a breakfast address to attendees here at the 29th International
Petrochemical Conference (IPC)*, he welcomed yesterday's announcement
of the 1 merger between Lyondell Chemical and Millennium Chemicals and
predicted there would be many more such alliances in future.
"It's essential we should see more consolidations," he said.
Jon Huntsman also underlined the value of global and regional
alliances, citing as an example his company's production joint venture
in China with Germany's BASF, where the 2 ground-breaking ceremony for
their $ 1bn (Euro827m) integrated isocyanates complex took place
yesterday.
Huntsman underlined the importance of China to the gobal chemicals
industry but also used the huge expansion under way there as a
rallying point for US-based chemical companies. He said the American
chemicals industry must change the way it does business to compete
effectively.>>
Chemical News & Intelligence
March 27, 2004
<<SAN ANTONIO, Texas (CNI)--Officials with the National Petrochemical
& Refiners Association (NPRA) said here Saturday that some 3100
registrants are expected at the 29th annual International
Petrochemical Conference (IPC), reflecting a building recovery in the
industry.
Richard Brown, business manager and petrochemical director at
Washington, DC-based NPRA, told CNI today that the trade group is
"quite happy" with the turnout for this year's IPC.
"Considering consolidation in the industry and the state of business
today," Brown said, "we're quite happy with the way conference
attendance is shaping up." He said last minute registrations will
likely boost the total to 3150 or so.>>
STEEL:
Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
September 10, 2004
<<Cargill Inc. said Thursday it has agreed to sell its North Star
Steel unit, including its St. Paul steel mill that employs 430
workers, to Gerdau Ameristeel Corp. of Canada in a deal valued at
approximately $ 266 million.
Included in the sale are large plants, called minimills in the steel
industry, in St. Paul, Wilton, Iowa; Calvert City, Ky., and Beaumont,
Texas; plus wire rod processing plants in Beaumont, Carrollton, Texas,
and Memphis, Tenn.; and a grinding ball plant in Duluth.>>
<<The industry also faces stiff competition from imports, reducing
investment interest in steel mills and processing plants. More
recently, however, favorable pricing has revived the industry.
In August, Gerdau Ameristeel said its second quarter earnings jumped
to $ 105.5 million, from a loss of $ 6.9 million in the same period of
2003, while sales grew to $ 733.8 million, from $ 440.8 million the
year before.
Philip Casey, president and chief executive, said in announcing those
quarterly results that globalization of the economy and consolidation
in the industry were helping.>>
Investor's Business Daily
March 22, 2004
<<Commercial Metals roared out of a roughly 12-week consolidation
Friday and cruised past its pivot point of 31.68, or 10 cents above
the March 5 intraday high. The stock's Relative Strength line shot
into new high ground.
The stock currently is 7.8% above the pivot, or proper buy point. A
key IBD rule is to never buy a stock that's already more than 5% above
the pivot, or more than 10% for a stock that gaps up on the breakout.
Buying too far above the proper buy point increases the risk that you
will be forced to sell out for a quick loss when the stock momentarily
loses steam and makes a normal pullback.>>
FLOOR CARE:
HFN
July 26, 2004
<<Of floor care's four traditional market leaders, Hoover is being
absorbed by Maytag, Eureka was renamed Electrolux and has initiated a
two-brand strategy, and Royal (Dirt Devil) was acquired by Techtronic
Industries. Only Bissell, family-owned for 128 years, remains
relatively unchanged.
They and other rivals are attempting to cope with floor care's new
world order: price declines, further retail consolidation,
manufacturing shifts to China and rising materials costs.>>
<<Just 10 days ago, Eureka said it will close its El Paso, Texas,
assembly line, consolidate production across the river in Juarez,
Mexico, and lay off 850 workers. The count at Maytag and Hoover is
1,100.
Nevertheless, there's a sense "the $10 and $20 bills have been taken
out" of the cost-reduction process, Holcomb said. "Now it's ones and
twos." And for any supplier trying to move inland in China for
still-cheaper labor, "you've got to watch them like a hawk.">>
HEALTH CARE:
Modern Healthcare
July 12, 2004, Monday
HEADLINE: An offer they can't refuse; As mergers and acquisitions make
a comeback, hospitals large and small are choosing consolidation over
competition
<< Deal-making is back.
Has it reached the frenzied levels of the mid-1990s? No. But figures
from the first six months of 2004 show that mergers and acquisitions
are racing ahead of the very weak start they were off to in 2003. And
a few factors suggest that the pace will keep up, at the very least,
over the course of 2004.
The first half of 2003 was plagued by a sluggish economy, a weak flu
season that held down patient volumes and the war in Iraq.
Hospitals also face more consolidation among health plans, a trend
that could sap the market clout hospitals gained during the last
merger boom. Mega-deals such as the proposed $16.4 billion merger of
WellPoint Health Networks and Anthem-companies that built themselves
by consolidating Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans-and acquisitions of
smaller rivals by bigger companies are continuing a 10-year trend of
health plan consolidation (April 12, p. 18)...
The Texas attorney general had the same concerns before approving the deal.>>
PHARMACY BENEFIT MANAGEMENT
Business Wire
April 2, 2004
<<"While Inteq has strengths in several markets, the addition of their
Dallas operation provides us with the platform to fulfill one of our
objectives of aggressively penetrating the Texas marketplace," Mr.
Bigl continued. "The acquisition of Inteq's assets is another
important step in our middle-market consolidation of the PBM industry,
and with our strengthened capital structure, we plan to continue
making acquisitions, both in the PBM and specialty-pharmacy space."
Andy Fisk, president of Inteq, commented, "We have known Jim and NMHC
for some time and we chose them given their outstanding service
philosophies, success in assisting clients in managing their drug
costs, commitment to maintaining a presence in Dallas, and the ability
to offer our customers the additional services NMHC has to offer. We
are excited for our customers and we look forward to playing a role in
the growth of this dynamic company.>>
NATURAL GAS:
Foster Natural Gas Report
July 8, 2004
<<Merrill discusses the considerable consolidation in the natural gas
pipeline industry, with some twenty pipeline companies reduced to four
that are publicly traded (excluding the master limited partnerships).
While not yet "totally out of the woods," the major pipelines are
making significant progress and are in better financial shape than
they were a year ago. That said, the potential for another asset sale
or two does remain as these companies seek to optimize their asset
mix. There is still the additional potential for non-core asset sales
by major companies, such as the recently announced sale of product
pipes by Shell to Magellan.
Historically, regulated pipelines and related assets typically changed
hands approximately eight times EBITDA. Shortly after Enron's demise
in late 2001, most major pipeline companies fell into financial
distress, and were forced to sell assets to remain solvent. Major
pipelines, including Kern River, Northern Natural, and Williams
Central were sold to private equity investors such as Berkshire
Hathaway's MidAmerican Energy and AIG Highstar at multiples near or
even below seven times EBITDA. Bargain-priced deals continued last
year, with CMS selling the Panhandle System to Southern Union and
Williams selling its Texas Gas Transmission system to private equity
investor Loews Corp. Enbridge picked up the Alliance Pipeline. All
transfers were transacted at roughly seven times EBITDA.>>
Inside F.E.R.C.'s Gas Market Report
June 18, 2004
<<In the most recent acquisition in what is rapidly becoming a major
consolidation of North American E&#038;P companies, Denver-based
Delta Petroleum said Wednesday it has agreed to buy all of the proved
reserves owned by Alpine Resources, a small privately held
Houston-based exploration-and production company.
Although it did not reveal financial details of the transaction, which
is expected to close by the end of June, Delta said it is paying about
$1.40/Mcf-equivalent for the assets located onshore in East Texas and
Louisiana.>>
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Regards,
Anthony (adiloren-ga) |
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