Kenvue

Kimberly-Clark closed its nearly $49 billion takeover of Kenvue, expanding into consumer health with brands including Tylenol, Band-Aid and Neutrogena. Management expects $1.9 billion in cost and expense reductions within three years plus $500 million of incremental profit, and aims for earnings accretion by year two while reducing leverage. CEO Michael Hsu highlighted plans to accelerate Kenvue's growth through stronger retail, digital and innovation capabilities, and defended Tylenol amid ongoing litigation and safety debates. Kimberly-Clark reiterated its commitment to maintain the dividend and a single-A credit rating despite taking on acquisition-related debt. » Altro su cnbc.com

Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust bought 50 shares of Kimberly-Clark at about $95.80, bringing its holding to 515 shares and raising the position to roughly 1.24% of the portfolio. The purchase is part of a broader move to deploy a large cash balance into beaten-down non-tech names, with the trust citing the near-term catalyst of the nearly $50 billion Kenvue acquisition expected before year-end. The trust highlights Kimberly-Clark’s 5.3% yield, a roughly 13x forward earnings valuation, and confidence in CEO Mike Hsu to extract more value from Kenvue’s brands via club, e-commerce and international expansion. » Altro su cnbc.com

Kimberly-Clark is preparing to divest Kenvue assets to address EU antitrust concerns and aims to secure European Commission approval by the September 29 deadline to avoid a lengthier investigation. The company has already faced similar demands in Australia, where conditional approval required selling Carefree and Stayfree. The acquisition would create a consumer-health and personal-care group with about $32 billion in revenue and $7 billion of adjusted EBITDA; Kimberly-Clark cites roughly $1.9 billion in annual cost synergies and $500 million in revenue synergies but expects to invest $2.5 billion to realize cost savings. The scale of any EU divestitures will determine how much of the deal’s expected economic benefits are preserved, while broader remedies or a prolonged review could reduce acquired earnings and delay synergy realization. » Altro su finance.yahoo.com