Mergers, acquisitions & rumours

It's good to be back after having travelled for business for more than two weeks. During my absence, a lot has happened to certain funds that I discussed some time ago. Especially news on ABN Amro, Iberia, Gold Reserve Inc, Crystallex, Beacon Power Corp and Ahold is worth mentioning. First of all, I indicated last year that ABN Amro would certainly be subject of takeover talks as the banking industry consolidation in Europe would start to take off. Earlier this year, it was rumoured (on advice of certain shareholders) that ABN Amro could be split up, unlocking value for the shareholders themselves. This was later denied by CEO Rijkman Groenink, who stated that this would certainly not be the preferred option. Then came rumours of a merger with Barclay's Bank, possibly creating Europe's second largest bank after HSBC. This rumour actually seems more than just a rumour and has a reasonable chance of success. The share price went up quickly from EUR 27 to EUR 32 and might even go a bit higher as a deal gets closer. This jump will however not influence the performance of my list of stock picks I had cashed ABN Amro at EUR 28. Then there were takeover talks regarding Spanish airline company Iberia. It was rumoured that Lufthansa was willing to pay EUR 3.90 and that several other groups were interested in buying Iberia, including British Airways and Texas Pacific Group. Iberia was on my list of stock picks but was taken off when its price target of EUR 3.30 had been reached. In January this year, I wrote about Gold Reserve Inc and Crystallex having great potential based on the high likelihood of obtaining permits from the Venezuelan Government as well as the low valuations of both shares. On Wednesday, both shares jumped, but are still very far from reaching price targets set for this year. Now that the major risk of not being able to obtain permits has been eliminated, I see no reason for the low valuations of both shares and it should therefore be expected that both shares will rise further, supported by higher prices for precious metals. Beacon Power Corp rose from USD 0.82 to USD 1.02 last Thursday on news of a successful outcome of its flywheel technology field trial tests. This should be seen as a significant milestone towards further growth of the company's sales. In my opinion, this development stage company has some serious potential that most investors have yet to find out about. The stock has dropped back to USD 0.83 after its rise but has now continued its upward move and may be expected to come up with further good news on its technology in the near future. Finally, Ahold has moved up from EUR 7.50 to EUR 8.50 this month on the expected sale of US Foodservice and Tops Supermarkets in combination with the grocer's low valuation. In addition to that, there were some rumours of Ahold being a potential acquisition target. So I am happy to see that most of my predictions seem to be coming true sooner or later. My list of stock picks may not be as successful as my 'mining fund', but 10% ROI in three months (on average) isn't bad at all, is it?