Today’s news: Voya Financial (VOYA) in recent acquisition talks; stock rising.
The Financial Times reported this morning that Voya Financial (VOYA) was in talks, in late December, to possibly be acquired by AIG, Prudential Financial Group or Prudential Financial. The stock rose to new highs in December, and is rising again this morning. The news article speculated that the company could sell for $10 billion, which would translate to approximately $74 per share.
This morning’s Research Roundup reported that Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (a.k.a. KBW) raised their price target on VOYA from 68 to 72. (It’s unclear whether the potential M&A activity was factored into KBW’s price target.)
I issued a Special Bulletin on December 19 that discussed Voya’s agreement to sell their in-force individual life insurance business. It would certainly be possible that Voya, in preparation for a sale of the overall company, would seek to sell or spin off a less desirable portion of the business if they believed that would enhance the appeal of the remaining company to a potential buyer.
If a buyout offer materializes, you will not need to hurriedly decide whether to sell your stock. We would want to wait at least a few weeks in order to see if a competing buyout offer materializes. My Strong Buy recommendation remains intact. Strong Buy.