Company News: Home Depot plans stock repurchase
The Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday it expects to repurchase 289.6 million of its shares for $10.7 billion as a result of a tender offer, a little less than halfway towards its goal of buying back $22.5 billion in stock.
Preliminary results of the tender offer that ended Friday indicated the nation’s biggest home improvement store chain expected to repurchase the shares at $37 per share, using about $8 billion in net proceeds from its sale of HD Supply and $2.7 billion in cash, said spokeswoman Paula Drake.
Drake said the final results will be released next week.
Because Atlanta-based Home Depot decided to use cash in the tender offer, the company did not utilize a $2 billion credit line it set up in connection with the tender offer, Drake said.
The 289.6 million shares represents about 48 percent of the company’s plan to repurchase $22.5 billion in shares. Drake said the company will continue buying back shares but said Tuesday there was no specific timeline for doing so.
The company originally offered to purchase up to 250 million shares of its stock but elected to purchase an additional 39.6 million shares under the terms of its tender offer.
“A home decor merchant has dropped a federal lawsuit attacking Google Inc.’s practice of connecting some online ads to trademarks, handing the Internet search leader its latest legal victory on the prickly issue.
American Blind & Wallpaper Factory Inc. agreed to abandon the nearly 4-year-old case without receiving any payment from Google, according to a settlement dated Aug. 31. The truce also stipulated that Google won’t change its long-standing policy that let advertisers place ads tied a rival’s trademark.
The settlement avoided a trial that was scheduled to begin Nov. 13 in San Jose. The two sides agreed to cover their own legal costs.
“Aircraft maker Boeing Co. on Tuesday said leasing company Aviation Capital Group ordered 15 of its single-aisle 737 passenger jets.
The order was previously attributed by Boeing to an unidentified customer.
Boeing said the order was worth $934 million at list prices, though airlines generally negotiate steep discounts.
As of the end of July, Boeing had received orders for more than 7,100 of the short-to-medium-range 737s since the plane entered commercial service in 1968.
Aviation Capital Group, which leases its fleet of 228 aircraft to 99 airlines worldwide, said it now has 64 Boeing airplanes on order — 59 737s and five 787 Dreamliners.