FACTBOX-Spreads of U.S. mergers and acquisitions

Mon Jan 5, 2009 12:15pm EST

[-] Text [+]

 NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The following list shows the arbitrage spread for
proposed mergers and acquisitions of U.S. companies.

 Historically, the wider the spread, the more investors doubt a deal will close.
Arbitrage spreads measure the difference between the offered takeover price and the
target company's current trading price.

 For real-time spreads, go to <US/ARB/MENU>
ACQUIRER              TARGET            RIC     DEAL_VALUE * PRICE/SHARE SPREAD%
Roche Holding AG      Genentech Inc     DNA.N   37,505.28     89.00        7.75
Dow Chemical Co       Rohm and Haas     ROH.N   15,287.23     78.00       20.44
NRG Energy Inc        Calpine Corp      CPN.N   10,916.43     12.62       50.10
Altria Group Inc      UST Inc           UST.N   10,313.39     69.50         .06
Exelon Corp           NRG Energy        NRG.N    6,237.66     27.73       17.29
CenturyTel Inc        Embarq Corp       EQ.N     5,744.34     38.94        4.36
MidAmerican Energy    Constellation EnerCEG.N    4,725.79     26.50        5.62
Consortium            Puget Energy      PSD.N    3,510.75     30.00        9.69
Johnson & Johnson     Mentor Corp       MNT.N    1,072.60     31.00         .13
NOTE: * Deal values in millions of U.S. dollars
SOURCE: Reuters
 (Compiling by Oswald Blackwood)