Merger Arbitrage Site of the Day

No more relying on Dana Cimilluca to find failed merger-arb trades! It turns out that a chap called Plamen Tsolov has created Arbitrage View, a web page with a continually-updated list of arbitrage opportunities in pending merger deals in the US market. At the top of the list is Transmeridian Exploration, which has agreed to be bought by Trans Meridian International for $3 per share. But the stock is stubbornly refusing to go there: it closed Tuesday at $1.31. If the merger goes through as scheduled at the end of June, that's an arbitrage profit of 129%, and an annualized profit of almost 300%. (The annualized profit on the Merrill Lynch - Cumulus Media trade is even bigger, at an eye-popping 1,847%, but that's because it's due to close on February 15: the arbitrage profit is slightly smaller, at 116%.)

There are some very big deals near the top of the list: 3Com has agreed to be bought by Bain Capital for $5.30, for instance, but it's trading at $4.02. And the proposed management buy-out of Cablevision Systems, at $36.36 per share, is vastly above the share price of $21.77. Read this table, and weep for the merger arbs!