Spectrum Brands (NYSE:SPB) and Assa Abloy (OTCPK:ASAZF) are likely to reach a settlement with the Dept. of Justice by Feb. 20, according to a legal expert.
“Simply put there’s a heightened probability of a potential settle between now and Feb. 20,” Michael D. Cohen, director of research at MDC Financial Research LLC, who has been closing following the matter, said in a phone interview with Seeking Alpha on Wednesday.
The parties, including Spectrum Brands (SPB), Assa Abloy (OTCPK:ASAZF) and the DOJ, are “close to an agreement and will submit either a further status report or a proposed joint stipulation” on or before Feb. 20, according to a joint status report on the DOJ suit filed Monday.
Cohen, who runs the The “Event‐Driven Legal” investment‐research service, said if the parties are close to an agreement, that likely “includes the government seeing the `dispute’ the way that Spectrum Brands (SPB) does, then the government will likely realize that it has no case.”
“That’s why we believe that there is a heightened probability of a potential settlement between now and February 20, 2023,” Cohen said.
The DOJ sued to block the Swedish company from acquiring the door hardware unit for $4.3 billion from Spectrum Brands (SPB) back in September. Spectrum Brands’ shares soared 27% on Dec. 2 after Assa announced an agreement to sell some assets to Fortune Brands Home & Security (FBIN) for $800M to try to remedy the DOJ’s concerns. Spectrum (SPB) is also scheduled to report Q1 results on Friday.