Stockwinners Market Radar for June 24, 2019 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:33 EDT Fly Intel: After Hours Movers - HIGHER: Genfit (GNFT), up 3.2% after Terns announced a licensing and collaboration agreement with the company. LOWER: Gamida Cell (GMDA), down 9.9% after filing to sell $30M of ordinary shares.

19:01 EDT Gilead, Carna Biosciences announce research and development collaboration - Gilead and Carna Biosciences announced that the companies have entered into a research and development collaboration to develop and commercialize small molecule compounds in immuno-oncology and to access Carna's proprietary lipid kinase drug discovery platform. Under the terms of the license agreement, Gilead will license from Carna worldwide rights to develop and commercialize inhibitors against an undisclosed immuno-oncology target. In connection with this agreement, Carna will receive an upfront payment of $20M and is eligible to receive up to an additional $450M in potential milestone payments upon achievement of certain development and commercial milestones. Carna will also receive royalties on future net sales. Under the collaboration, Gilead will also have exclusive access to Carna's proprietary lipid kinase drug discovery platform.

17:53 EDT Apple to add 2,000 employees in Seattle over next 5 years - Seattle mayor Jenny A. Durkan issued the following statement in support of Apple's announcement of a Seattle expansion: "These new jobs confirm what we already knew, we have the best talent and city anywhere. Apple's expanded footprint in Seattle is another example of the growing opportunity that exists for residents of Seattle and the economic powerhouse our City has become. Yet we know that as Seattle continues to grow, we must act urgently to address the pressures that follow - from tackling affordability to new affordable housing to increasing transit. By next year, an estimated 70% of jobs in Washington State will require some sort of post-secondary credential. It is my top priority that our kids growing up in Seattle today are prepared to fill the great engineering and computer science jobs that Apple announced today. That's why we created the Seattle Promise and the Opportunity Promise - so our youth are connected with resources and put on a path to the good paying jobs of Seattle's future." Apple will add an additional 2,000 employees in the City of Seattle over the next 5 years, the office of the mayor said.

17:45 EDT FB Financial provides update on its exit of wholesale mortgage channels - FB Financial Corporation's wholly-owned subsidiary, FirstBank, announced that it has signed an agreement to sell its Correspondent Lending channel to Rushmore Loan Management Services. Upon closing of the transaction, Rushmore will assume substantially all of the assets and personnel related to the channel. The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions. FB Financial expects the transaction to close early in Q3. FirstBank completed the sale of its Third Party Origination channel to Renasant Bank on June 7, 2019. Upon the closing of the sale of the Correspondent channel to Rushmore, the mortgage restructuring announced on April 1, 2019 will substantially be completed. In addition to the $1.1M restructuring expense reported for Q1, FB Financial expects to record additional restructuring charges of up to $1.5M to cover transaction related expenses, severance and other items related to its mortgage operations. Excluding the impact of the mortgage restructuring charges, FB Financial expects an increase in the operating results from its total mortgage operations in Q2 as compared to Q1.

17:33 EDT Erytech Pharma announces strategic collaboration with SQZ Biotechnologies - ERYTECH Pharma announced that it has entered into an agreement with SQZ Biotechnologies, a cell therapy company developing novel treatments in multiple therapeutic areas, to advance novel RBC-based therapeutics for immune modulation. Under the terms of the agreement, ERYTECH has granted to SQZ an exclusive worldwide license to develop antigen-specific immune modulating therapies employing RBC-based approaches. Combining SQZ's proprietary and versatile cell engineering platform, Cell Squeeze, with ERYTECH's intellectual property related to RBC-based therapeutics is intended to allow for the rapid development of a broad pipeline of novel immunomodulatory products addressing multiple indications. ERYTECH is eligible to receive up to $57M in combined upfront and potential development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments for the first product successfully developed by SQZ under this agreement. ERYTECH will also be eligible to receive sales royalties, and up to a total of $50M in commercial milestone payments related to each additional approved product or approved indication.

17:28 EDT S&P announces changes to S&P 400, 500, 600 indices - S&P Dow Jones Indices will make the following changes to the S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600: MarketAxess Holdings (MKTX) will replace L3 Technologies (LLL) in the S&P 500, Axon Enterprise (AAXN) will replace MarketAxess Holdings in the S&P MidCap 400, and Mesa Laboratories (MLAB) will replace Axon Enterprise in the S&P SmallCap 600 effective prior to the open of trading on Monday, July 1. Harris (HRS) is acquiring L3 Technologies in a deal expected to be completed on or about that date pending final approvals. USANA Health Sciences (USNA) will replace Fidelity Southern (LION) in the S&P SmallCap 600 effective prior to the open of trading on Monday, July 1. Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) is acquiring Fidelity Southern in a deal expected to be completed on or about that date pending final conditions. Xencor (XNCR) will replace HFF Inc. (HF) in the S&P SmallCap 600 effective prior to the open of trading on Tuesday, July 2. Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) is acquiring HFF in a deal expected to be completed on or about that date pending final approvals.

17:20 EDT Usana to replace Fidelity Southern in S&P 600 at open on 7/1 - Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) is acquiring Fidelity Southern (LION) in a deal expected to be completed on or about that date pending final conditions.

17:18 EDT Axon to replace MarketAxess in S&P 400 at open on 7/1

17:04 EDT Vista Gold CFO Jack Engele to retire, Douglas Tobler to succeed - Vista Gold is pleased to announce the appointment of Douglas Tobler as CFO of the company effective July 1. He succeeds Jack Engele, who is retiring as Sr. Vice President and CFO, following six and a half years of service with the company. Tobler has extensive experience with growth-stage resource companies, including most recently as CFO of Lydian International.

17:00 EDT Armistice Capital reports 6.2% passive stake in Vanda Pharmaceuticals - In a regulatory filing, Armistice Capital disclosed a 6.2% stake in Vanda Pharmaceuticals, which represents 3,268,000 common shares. The filing does not allow for activism.

16:40 EDT Genfit SA (ADS) trading resumes

16:35 EDT Calyxt enters commercial crushing agreement with Landus Cooperative - Calyxt announced that it has entered into a commercial crushing agreement with Landus Cooperative, expanding Calyxt's network of processing partners. With this agreement, Landus Cooperative, with decades of soybean crushing experience, will manufacture, purchase and distribute soybean meal. This agreement positions Calyxt's high oleic soybean meal as an ingredient for the dairy nutrition market. Landus Cooperative, a farmer-owned cooperative, is the sixth largest grain company in North America, based on storage capacity, aggregating more than 170M bushels of corn and soybeans annually. Headquartered in Ames, Iowa, Landus Cooperative has locations in more than 60 communities in Iowa, approximately 7,000 members and annual revenues of more than $1.2B. Calyxt high oleic soybeans will be processed in Landus Cooperative's crush plant in Ralston, Iowa which consumes more than 21M bushels of soybeans annually.

16:34 EDT Terns announces licensing, collaboration agreement with Genfit - Terns Pharmaceuticals announced an exclusive licensing and collaboration agreement with GENFIT, a late-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative therapeutic and diagnostic solutions in metabolic and liver-related diseases. Under the terms of the agreement, Terns acquires the exclusive right to develop, register, and market elafibranor for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and primary biliary cholangitis in Greater China. GENFIT will receive a $35M upfront payment and will be eligible to receive up to $193M in subsequent payments, based on achieving clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones. The two companies will also collaborate on research and development moving forward in NASH and PBC. These research and development efforts include potential combinations of elafibranor, a dual peroxisome proliferator-activated alpha/delta agonist, with Terns' development candidates, including TERN-101, a farnesoid X receptor agonist, TERN-201, a semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase inhibitor, and their thyroid hormone receptor beta-selective agonist and apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 inhibitor programs.

16:32 EDT Chico's FAS board approves amendment to company bylaws over share acquisition - Chico's FAS issued an open letter to shareholders announcing additional actions that "demonstrate the Board of Director's ongoing commitment to strong corporate governance policies and practices, including additional Board-sponsored actions that ensure all Chico's FAS shareholders retain voting rights for each share they own." "Some years ago, Florida was one of a number of states to adopt a provision known as a control share acquisition statute, and as a company headquartered in Florida, this provision was automatically incorporated into our bylaws," it said. "In particular, Section 607.0902 of the Florida Business Corporation Act denies voting rights to an investor if it acquires 20% or more of the Company's shares, unless the voting rights are approved by a majority of unaffiliated shareholders at a special meeting." In the letter, the company said that while it has no shareholder that owns 20% or more of the company's shares, it believes that any stakeholders should have the right to vote those shares. "Accordingly, the Chico's FAS Board of Directors has unanimously approved an amendment to the Company's bylaws whereby the Company has opted out of the control share acquisition statute under the Florida Business Corporation Act," the company said. "This important action ensures that all of our shareholders have the voting rights we believe they deserve. It also eliminates the need for a Special Meeting, as recently requested by Sycamore Partners. Unlike the Special Meeting proposed by Sycamore, which would have applied only to Sycamore's shareholdings, this action by the Chico's FAS Board ensures that ALL shareholders will be entitled to freely vote their shares in the Company. As noted above, we strongly believe that all Chico's FAS shareholders, not just Sycamore, should have the right to vote the shares they own. To be clear, this bylaw amendment relates solely to voting rights; it does not speak to the merits of, or otherwise advance, Sycamore's unsolicited acquisition proposal, nor does it speak to whether the Company should engage with Sycamore on its proposal. As previously announced, Sycamore's June 19, 2019 proposal is being reviewed by the Board. On this point, we appreciate the strong support we have received from numerous shareholders for the Board's decision to reject Sycamore's May 10 acquisition proposal and the confidence expressed in our ability to improve the Company's growth and value creation. We also appreciate the strong support we have received from numerous shareholders over the past weeks for our new operating priorities and the improvements underway in these areas."

16:30 EDT Costco VP Roland Michael Vachris sells almost $1M in company shares - Costco VP Roland Michael Vachris disclosed in a filing that he had sold 3,700 shares of company stock at an average price of $267.25 per share on June 24. The total transaction value of the sale was $988,823.

16:27 EDT Forterra sees FY19 results 'in line with its prior guidance' - The company continues to expect full year 2019 financial results to be in line with its prior guidance, most recently addressed in the company's earnings release for the first quarter. As stated on May 6, Forterra anticipates further strengthening in public infrastructure spending, continued positive pricing trends and stabilizing input costs. The company remains focused on executing commercial and operational initiatives geared toward improving operating margins and cash flow.

16:21 EDT Sunniva announces additions to its California operations - Sunniva announces additions to its California operations management team in Cathedral City in preparation for the commencement of cultivation operations at the Sunniva California Campus glasshouse. Eric Rosas has joined in the position of General Manager for the glasshouse and extraction facilities. Jose Calderon has been hired as the Head Grower for the glasshouse and James Boesiger will assume the position of Maintenance Manager of the glasshouse and extraction facilities.

16:19 EDT Conatus says results from ENCORE-LF clinical trial didn't meet primary endpoint - Conatus Pharmaceuticals announced that top-line results from the company's ENCORE-LF clinical trial of emricasan did not meet its primary endpoint and the company is discontinuing further treatment of patients enrolled in the ENCORE-LF clinical trial. Also, results from the 24-week extension in the company's ENCORE-PH clinical trial of emricasan were consistent with results from the initial 24-week treatment period and did not meet predefined objectives. Conatus will continue to work with its partner Novartis on ensuring that all remaining obligations related to the emricasan program are fulfilled.

16:17 EDT Integra LifeSciences names Glenn Coleman COO, Carrie Anderson, CFO - Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation announced the promotion of Glenn Coleman to the newly-created role of chief operating officer and appointed Carrie Anderson as chief financial officer, effective June 24, 2019. Glenn Coleman most recently served as CFO and corporate vice president, responsible for Integra's international business. In this role, Coleman oversaw accounting and financial reporting, budgeting, internal audit, tax, treasury, investor relations and IT while also leading the company's international business. The company also announced Carrie Anderson has been appointed to serve as CFO. Anderson brings broad-based, global finance experience, including in acquisitions and divestitures, as well as expertise in manufacturing and engineering. She most recently served as chief accounting officer and corporate controller at Dover Corporation, a global industrial manufacturer with 20 operating companies.

16:16 EDT Conatus to cut staff by about 40% in restructuring

16:16 EDT EZCORP completes acquisition of seven pawn stores in Nevada - EZCORP announced that it has completed the acquisition of seven pawn stores in Nevada, bringing the company's total store count in the state to 24. The acquired stores, operating under the name "Metro Pawn," include five stores in the Reno area, representing the company's entry into another attractive market, and two stores in the Las Vegas area, giving the company a total of 19 stores in that market. EZCORP now owns and operates 985 pawn stores, with 515 in the United States and 470 in Latin America.

16:11 EDT Arcus Biosciences names Eric Hoefer chief commercial officer - Arcus Biosciences announced that Eric Hoefer has joined the company as Chief Commercial Officer. Hoefer will oversee all aspects of the company's global commercial strategy and operations as the company works to ensure that it most efficiently leverages the clinical and market development opportunities for its therapeutic candidates. "Eric has extensive knowledge of the global clinical and commercial oncology treatment landscape. He will bring significant content expertise and leadership as Arcus advances its product candidates through clinical studies to potentially expand access broadly to all patients who may benefit from these therapies," said Terry Rosen, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Arcus. "His insights into identifying underserved patient populations and settings, market development opportunities and potential approaches to accelerate development programs will be invaluable as the company evolves towards later-stage clinical studies."

16:07 EDT RGA announces reinsurance transaction with Horace Mann - Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) announced the completion of a $2.9B annuity reinsurance transaction with Horace Mann Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Horace Mann Educators Corporation (HMN). Under the agreement, a subsidiary of RGA will reinsure a seasoned block of U.S. annuity business and Horace Mann will continue to service and administer the policies. The transaction between RGA and Horace Mann closed today, with an effective date of April 1, 2019. Additional terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

16:06 EDT Destination Maternity announces reduction in force, sees $4M-$4.5M in savings - Destination Maternity Corporation announced a reduction in force that is expected to generate cost savings of $4M-$4.5M on an annualized run-rate basis. The reduction is part of the company's effort to become a more efficient and profitable organization, it said. As Destination Maternity is continuing to focus on a key item driven assortment, with more emphasis on evergreen product, the RIF will primarily impact the company's product pipeline teams. The RIF is expected to result in a one-time severance charge of approximately $1.3M- $1.5M during the second quarter of 2019 with severance benefits paid out ratably. Customary transition assistance will be provided to affected employees.

16:05 EDT Genfit SA (ADS) trading halted, news pending

16:01 EDT Conatus trading halted, news pending

15:17 EDT Internet Gold announces signing of definitive pact for Searchlight transaction - Internet Gold - Golden Lines Ltd. (IGLD) announced signing of the definitive agreement for the "Searchlight Transaction" by the company, B Communications Ltd. (BCOM), Searchlight II BZQ and T.N.R. Investments Ltd. As previously announced by the company, the transaction will include, inter alia, the sale by the company of its entire holdings in BComm for an aggregate amount of NIS 225M and an investment by the company in BComm of NIS 345M, comprised of the amount to be paid by the purchasers and an additional amount of NIS 120M. Pursuant to the transaction, the company will receive NIS 310M par value of Series C debentures of BComm as well as 8,383,234 ordinary shares of BComm. Upon the closing of the transaction, the purchasers will also invest an additional amount of NIS 260M in BComm in consideration for 62,275,450 ordinary shares of BComm.

14:53 EDT S&P says Bristol-Myers Squibb rating unchanged on Otezla sale - S&P Global Ratings said that its ratings on Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) are not affected by the company's announcement that it will divest psoriasis treatment Otezla, which is marketed by Celgene (CELG), to satisfy the Federal Trade Commission's concerns about its planned acquisition of Celgene. "Otezla generated $1.6B of sales for Celgene in 2018 and the sale of this treatment will reduce the company's projected revenue and cash flow after it acquires Celgene. However, we expect the net proceeds from the sale to be more than 3.5x the drug's 2018 EBITDA and anticipate that Bristol-Myers's overall projected leverage will remain flat or modestly decline. In addition, while the sale of Otezla will weaken Bristol-Myers' portfolio diversity, the company's own psoriasis treatment, TYK-2, is currently in late-stage development. Our ratings on Bristol-Myers are currently on CreditWatch, where we placed them with negative implications on Jan. 3, 2019. We expect to resolve the CreditWatch placement on Bristol-Myers when its acquisition of Celgene has closed. We now expect this to occur in the fourth quarter of 2019 or the first quarter of 2020. Upon the close of the transaction, we expect to lower our long-term issuer credit rating on Bristol-Myers to 'A' from 'A+' and our short-term rating on the company to 'A-1' from 'A-1+'" S&P stated.

13:58 EDT PizzaRev announces partnership to offer Beyond Meat sausage topping - PizzaRev announced that it is partnering with Beyond Meat to offer the brand's plant-based proteins. "Customers now can enjoy Beyond Meat's Italian Sausage Crumbles, a 100 percent plant-based meat, as a topping option at no extra charge at all PizzaRev locations...PizzaRev is the first fast-casual pizza chain to feature the popular Beyond Meat product," the company said.

13:16 EDT Affimed falls 13% after announcing clinical update on AFM13 in CD30 lymphomas - Earlier today, Affimed announced the presentation of data updates on two clinical studies at the 15th International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma, ICML, in Lugano, Switzerland. The data from an oral and a poster presentation featured Affimed's lead innate cell engager AFM13, a first-in-class tetravalent, bispecific antibody derived from the ROCK platform that is being developed to treat CD30-positive lymphomas. AFM13 specifically binds to CD30 on tumor cells and to CD16A on innate immune cells, such as NK cells and macrophages. "The results of the completed Phase 1b study of AFM13 in combination with pembrolizumab in Hodgkin lymphoma and of Columbia University's study of AFM13 in patients with relapsed or refractory CD30-positive lymphoma with cutaneous presentation substantiate the potential of AFM13 to make a difference in the lives of patients with limited to no treatment options," said Dr. Leila Alland, Affimed's Chief Medical Officer. "We look forward to advancing our innate cell engagers in future clinical studies, including our registration-directed study of AFM13 in relapsed and refractory peripheral T cell lymphoma and transformed mycosis fungoides." Shares of Affimed are down 44c per share or 12.76% to $2.98 in afternoon trading.

12:59 EDT B Communications Ltd. says board approves Searchlight transaction - B Communications Ltd. reported that it has signed a definitive agreement with an investor group led by Searchlight Capital Partners and the Fuhrer Family Office. The transaction, if completed, will facilitate an overall cash injection of NIS 640M into the company's treasury, and as a result of the transaction, Bcom will fully repay its Series B Debentures and make an early repayment of NIS 614M on its Series C Debentures. "The transaction also reflects an equity component, including carrying out a rights offering issuance for the benefit of the company's shareholders. The company's board of directors approved the transaction considering, inter alia, the results of the company's debenture holders' meetings, including the Series C debenture holders' meeting held today, and voted in favor of the execution of the agreement," the company announced.

12:17 EDT FTD Companies enters into asset purchase agreement for Personal Creations - FTD Companies provided an update on its court-supervised restructuring process. The company has: Entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement with PlanetArt to acquire Personal Creations for $18.1M in cash, subject to customary adjustments; Entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement with Farids & Co., LLC, which is owned by Tariq Farid, founder of Edible Arrangements, LLC, to acquire Shari's Berries for $5M in cash, subject to customary adjustments; and Entered into an amended and restated definitive asset purchase agreement with an affiliate of Nexus Capital Management LP to acquire FTD's North America and Latin America Consumer and Florist businesses, including ProFlowers, for $95M in cash, subject to customary adjustments. The amended and restated agreement eliminates certain closing conditions and termination rights included in the previously announced agreement. The company is operating in the ordinary course and remains focused on supporting its extensive network of member florists and business partners connected by its iconic FTD brand in North America and Latin America. The company's other businesses, including ProFlowers, Shari's Berries and Personal Creations, are also continuing to provide floral, specialty food, gift and related products to consumers. Scott Levin, FTD's President and CEO, said, "We are making progress implementing our strategic initiatives. Nexus Capital, PlanetArt and Farids would each bring stability and expertise to continue growing our businesses and providing customers the outstanding service they expect. As we move through this process, we continue to serve customers and support our member florists and business partners in the ordinary course." The asset purchase agreements are subject to certain customary closing conditions. The asset purchase agreements also remain subject to higher or better offers, as well as to approval of the Bankruptcy Court. The Company will seek to close the transactions as soon as possible and in accordance with milestones agreed to with its DIP lenders.

12:00 EDT Quad/Graphics falls -10.5% - Quad/Graphics is down -10.5%, or -96c to $8.16.

12:00 EDT VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN falls -13.0% - VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN is down -13.0%, or -$25.61 to $171.01.

12:00 EDT Tailored Brands rises 11.0% - Tailored Brands is up 11.0%, or 61c to $6.16.

11:37 EDT Oxford Immunotec appoints Patrick Balthrop, Sr. as Chairman - Oxford Immunotec announced that it has appointed Patrick Balthrop, Sr. as Chairman of its board of directors. The current Chairman, Richard Sandberg, will remain a member of the board. Dr. Peter Wrighton-Smith, CEO of Oxford Immunotec, said: "Mr. Balthrop brings a vast array of skills to the role of chair, including his extensive knowledge of the diagnostics and life sciences industries and his experience as both a Chairman and a member of multiple boards. In his role as a Non-Executive Director over the past three years, Mr. Balthrop has built a deep understanding of the company and demonstrated the value of his broad leadership experience."

10:41 EDT Amazon Business launches Amazon Professional Beauty Store - Amazon (AMZN) has announced that professional beauty products are now available on Amazon Business. "Amazon Business launched the Amazon Professional Beauty Store to offer professional stylists, barbers, and estheticians a convenient, custom shopping experience with great selection. Discover top professional-use products in the new store from brands like Wella Color Charm, RUSK, and OPI Professional, plus other beauty supplies typically found in salons and spas," the company said. "The new professional-use selection requires a license to purchase products, such as state-issued cosmetology, barber, or esthetician licenses. Stylists can create a free Amazon Business account and upload their license to gain access to the brands their customers know and love." In morning trading, shares of Ulta Beauty (ULTA) have dropped over 2% to $348, while Sally Beauty's (SBH) stock has slipped about 3% to $14.35. Reference Link

10:23 EDT Home Depot CEO says hiring going well, has been able to add associates

10:00 EDT LSC Communications falls -7.4% - LSC Communications is down -7.4%, or -35c to $4.38.

10:00 EDT VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN falls -9.6% - VelocityShares 3x Inv Natural Gas ETN is down -9.6%, or -$18.80 to $177.82.

10:00 EDT Rudolph Technologies rises 7.7% - Rudolph Technologies is up 7.7%, or $1.93 to $26.96.

09:47 EDT Jianpu Technology falls -4.8% - Jianpu Technology is down -4.8%, or -21c to $4.14.

09:47 EDT Griffon's Telephonics awarded contract from Department of Homeland Security - Telephonics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Griffon, announced that it has been awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract as a hardware supplier Technical Category 1 from the Department of Homeland Security to support the Tactical Communications Equipment and Services II program. Through this award, Telephonics will be providing a full-array of communications products as well as ancillary support equipment, training, and life-cycle support.

09:47 EDT Evolent Health rises 4.5% - Evolent Health is up 4.5%, or 38c to $8.79.

09:47 EDT VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN rises 9.4% - VelocityShares 3x Long Natural Gas ETN is up 9.4%, or $1.29 to $15.02.

09:35 EDT PAVmed subsidiary gets FDA 510(k) premarket notification - PAVmed subsidiary Lucid Diagnostics received a "substantially equivalent - kit" decision from the FDA for its EsoCheck CCD Cell Collection Device, according to a 510(k) premarket notification posted to the agency's website. Reference Link

09:21 EDT Fly Intel: Pre-market Movers - HIGHER: PCM, Inc. (PCMI), up 41% after entering into an agreement under which Insight Enterprises (NSIT) will acquire PCM for $35 per share... NRC Group (NRCG), up 26% after U.S. Ecology (ECOL) entered into a definitive merger agreement with the company in an all-stock transaction with an enterprise value of $966M... Caesars (CZR), up 14% after announcing that Eldorado Resorts (ERI) will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Caesars for a total value of $12.75 per share in cash and stock... Minerva (NERV), up 74% after seltorexant trial achieves primary, secondary endpoints... Trevana (TRVN), up 3% after the publication of APOLLO-2 results in Pain Practice on the effects of oliceridine for management of moderate-to-severe acute pain following abdominoplasty. LOWER: Eldorado Resorts (ERI), down 9% after acquiring all of the outstanding shares of Caesars... Bristol-Meyers (BMY) and Celgene (CELG), both down 3% after announcing, to allow the Celgene merger to close on a timely basis in light of concerns expressed by the FTC, Bristol-Meyers is planning the divestiture of Otezla... Spotify (SPOT), down 3% after being downgraded to Underperform from In Line at Evercore ISI.

09:12 EDT Minerva announces seltorexant trial achieves primary, secondary endpoints - Minerva announced results of a clinical trial of seltorexant in patients with insomnia disorder that demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement on LPS at Night 1, the primary endpoint of the study. The mean decrease from baseline at Night 1 in LPS was 15 minutes for placebo, 30 minutes for seltorexant 5 mg, 50 minutes for seltorexant 10 mg, and 48 minutes for seltorexant 20 mg. For the key secondary endpoint, WASO-6 at Night 1, the mean improvement from baseline at Night 1 was 15 minutes for placebo, 23 minutes for seltorexant 5 mg, 43 minutes for 10 mg, and 45 minutes for 20 mg of seltorexant. Furthermore, multiple secondary endpoints were also improved versus placebo and standard of care zolpidem, which is available under the brand name Ambien. This multicenter, phase 2b, double-blind, randomized, parallel-group, active- and placebo-controlled, 17-day dose finding study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of seltorexant in both adult and elderly subjects with insomnia disorder without psychiatric co-morbidity. The study enrolled a total number of 365 subjects, randomized in a 1:1:1:1:1 ratio to receive one of 5 treatments. The randomization was stratified by region and age group. The primary efficacy endpoint, LPS, was evaluated at a 1-sided significance level of 0.05 using the MCP-Mod approach to test for dose-response. For all remaining statistical analyses of the primary efficacy endpoint and for all other secondary efficacy endpoints, mixed model for repeated measures, or MMRM, or analysis of covariance, or ANCOVA, with no multiplicity adjustment were performed. The primary and key secondary endpoints were log-transformed before the statistical analysis using ANCOVA/MMRM models. For all analyses other than MCP-Mod, 2-sided p-values are presented. Of the 364 subjects that received study drugs, 32.4% were male. The mean age was 57.8 years, ranging from 22 to 84 years. Subjects had a mean total insomnia severity Index, or ISI, score of 20.2 at baseline, indicative of moderate to severe insomnia. All 4 pre-specified dose-response models showed a significant dose-response relationship in LPS at Night 1, where the adjusted 1-sided p-values were less than 0.001. There was a significant separation from placebo of the 10 mg and 20 mg dose groups. The advantage in least squares mean on changes from baseline of the seltorexant dose groups over placebo at Night 1 were: 16.4 minutes for the 5 mg, 32.2 minutes for the 10 mg and 36.6 minutes for the 20 mg. Advantages over placebo were also observed at Night 13: 5.2 minutes for the 5 mg, 28.6 minutes for the 10 mg and 21.0 minutes for the 20 mg.

09:08 EDT Acasti Pharma announces Notice of Allowance for second patent in China - Acasti Pharma announced that it has received a Notice of Allowance for its second patent to be awarded in the People's Republic of China. This new patent expands the Company's existing claims, and is valid until 2030. The new patent relates to concentrated therapeutic omega-3 phospholipid compositions, and covers certain methods for the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, inflammation, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases.

09:07 EDT STMicroelectronics, Unex collaborate on Telemaco3P Modular telematics platform - Unex and STMicroelectronics announce the integration of Unex's SOM-301 on STMicroelectronics' Telemaco3P Modular Telematics Platform. Unex's SOM-301 is a self-contained System-on-Module that integrates all V2X essential hardware and software components and features Unex's V2Xcast technology. SOM-301 devices integrate ST's Teseo III automotive multi-constellation GNSS chip and Autotalks' state-of-the-art CRATON2/PLUTON2 - global and truly secure V2X chipset, capable of both DSRC and C-V2X connectivity. The Telemaco3P Modular Telematics Platform provides an open development environment for prototyping advanced Smart Driving applications. At its core is ST's Telemaco3P secure automotive processor, the industry's first device with an embedded isolated Hardware Security Module for state-of-the-art security. The platform provides positioning hardware with ST's automotive-grade multi-constellation GNSS Teseo IC and dead-reckoning sensors. It also offers direct connectivity to automotive buses such as CAN-FD, FlexRay, and BroadR-Reach as well as optional modules for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and LTE.

09:06 EDT GigaMedia CEO purchases 67,829 shares of company stock - GigaMedia announced that its CEO Cheng-Ming Huang a.k.a. James Huang has purchased a total of 67,829 shares of GigaMedia stock by Pacific Star Universal Group Ltd. at an average price of $2.5014 on June 19th and 21st. The purchases were made during an open window period and in full compliance with all company and legal guidelines. Cheng-Ming Huang now holds a total of 803,327 shares, an ownership of around 7.27% in the company.

09:04 EDT VivoPower announces PPA for project, additional contract wins in Australia - VivoPower International provided an update on the status of its US solar portfolio sale. Since the last update, the sale process has progressed further with new international parties now engaged. In addition, the Company has secured a power purchase agreement for one of its projects and has started to engage with large corporates with a view to securing additional PPAs directly. This strategy could drive a significant increase in the average value per watt of the whole portfolio. The Company would also like to announce that its Australian power services businesses, Kenshaw Electrical Pty Limited and J.A. Martin Electrical Pty Limited, have won additional contracts relating to solar farms and data centers worth $22.6M. With these new contracts, VivoPower's forward order book for power services has now increased to $51.5M on the back of this and previous contract wins in the data center, solar, agriculture, transport, mining, and utility sectors. This represents an increase of 53% in the last seven months and is another new all-time record high forward order book. It is expected that these contracts will be fulfilled within the next 12 months. Kenshaw has been awarded additional contracts worth $18.9M for the supply and installation of power generators to one of Australia's leading data center groups. J.A. Martin has been awarded a US$3.7M contract as part of the construction of a new solar project in New South Wales, Australia.

08:52 EDT 1st Constitution Bancorp to acquire Shore Community Bank for $16.54 per share - 1ST Constitution Bancorp (FCCY) and Shore Community Bank (SRHC) jointly announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger pursuant to which 1ST Constitution will acquire Shore in a stock and cash transaction valued at $16.54 per share, or approximately $53.1M in total consideration. Upon the closing of the transaction, Shore will merge with and into 1ST Constitution Bank. The merger has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both institutions, and is anticipated to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2019. The transaction is subject to approval by the shareholders of Shore, as well as regulatory approvals, and other customary closing conditions. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Shore shareholders will receive 0.8786 of a share of 1ST Constitution common stock, $16.50 in cash, or a combination of 1ST Constitution common stock and cash, subject to adjustment as set forth in the merger agreement, for each share of Shore common stock that they own. 1ST Constitution expects to issue 1,509,348 new shares of common stock in this transaction and the mix of the consideration will be approximately 55% stock and 45% cash. This deal value equates to approximately 166.8% of Shore's tangible book value as of March 31, 2019 and 13.3 times its net income for the last twelve months. The merger is anticipated to be 17.6% accretive to 1ST Constitution's earnings per share for 2020.

08:48 EDT OneMain Holdings appoints Rajive Chadha as COO - OneMain has appointed Rajive Chadha as COO. Chadha was most recently head of consumer products and fintech partnerships at Regions Bank, where he had responsibility for all consumer products, including deposits, lending, mortgage/home equity, auto finance and debit and pre-paid cards.

08:46 EDT AbbVie: FDA lifts partial clinical hold on Phase 3 study of venetoclax - AbbVie announced that the U.S. FDA has lifted the partial clinical hold placed on CANOVA (M13-494), a Phase 3 trial evaluating venetoclax for the investigational treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. The CANOVA trial evaluates venetoclax in combination with dexamethasone versus pomalidomide in combination with dexamethasone in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma positive for the translocation (11;14) abnormality. The t(11;14) genetic biomarker is among the most common and routinely tested genetic abnormalities in patients with multiple myeloma. The FDA removed the partial clinical hold based upon agreement on revisions to the CANOVA study protocol, including new risk mitigation measures, protocol-specified guidelines and updated futility criteria. Enrollment in the CANOVA trial may resume as determined by each participant site based on the approved protocol. All other clinical trials evaluating venetoclax in patients with multiple myeloma remain on partial clinical hold while next steps continue to be evaluated with the agency. The partial clinical hold does not impact any of the approved indications for venetoclax, such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia or acute myeloid leukemia. AbbVie remains confident in the benefit/risk profile of venetoclax in those approved indications.

08:44 EDT Capstone Turbine wins second follow-on order for C800 microturbine - Capstone Turbine Corporation announced that Innovative Energy Corporation, Capstone's exclusive distribution partner in Jamaica, has secured a second follow-on order for a C800 Signature Series microturbine along with a 20 year Factory Protection Plan. The C800 Signature Series will be installed in a combined cooling, heat and power configuration at the award-winning Couples Tower Isle luxury all-inclusive resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. This will be the third Capstone microturbine installation at a Couples Resorts property in Jamaica as the luxury resort management team for multiple locations across the island continues to find creative ways to reduce their carbon footprint as well as their annual operating costs. The Capstone C800S will be installed and maintained by IEC.

08:40 EDT MyoKardia publishes data on wrist-worn biosensor for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy - MyoKardia announced the publication of an article titled, "Machine Learning Detection of Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Using a Wearable Biosensor," in the Nature Partner Journal, Digital Medicine. This research is part of MyoKardia's efforts aimed at improving the detection, diagnosis and treatment of HCM, and holds the potential to help physicians more easily identify people who may be at risk of disease. Results from an exploratory study provided encouraging evidence of the potential for a wrist-worn biosensor to screen for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The study demonstrated that continuous monitoring using a wrist-worn photoplethysmography digital health device, similar to the optical sensors that monitor heart rate on commercially available fitness trackers, revealed differences in arterial pulse wave patterns between oHCM patients and those of individuals without oHCM. MyoKardia's proprietary machine learning algorithm identified individuals with oHCM with a sensitivity of 0.95 and a specificity of 0.98. The digital health substudy was conducted by MyoKardia as part of the company's Phase 2 PIONEER-HCM trial of mavacamten. Using an investigational wearable PPG device, vascular pulse wave data were collected at baseline from 19 oHCM patients enrolled in MyoKardia's Phase 2 PIONEER-HCM clinical trial. The pulse wave patterns of oHCM patients were compared to 64 healthy volunteers with no evidence of left ventricular hypertrophy, obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract, or other cardiovascular disease. A beat-by-beat machine learning model was developed to identify digital signatures of oHCM. The algorithm combined features corresponding to known hemodynamic abnormalities in HCM with novel morphological patterns extracted from the PPG signal. The pulse wave patterns of patients with oHCM were consistent with the turbulent blood flow and beat-to-beat variability associated with LVOT obstruction characteristic of oHCM. When patterns were examined across multiple beats, pulse wave traces from oHCM patients showed more frequent irregularly shaped beats and greater variability from beat to beat than those of the healthy volunteers. After training and cross-validation, the model achieved a C-statistic for oHCM detection of 0.99. At an operating threshold that optimizes the sum of sensitivity and specificity the model correctly classified 18/19 patients with oHCM and 63/64 healthy volunteers.

08:38 EDT Manhattan Associates announces Active SCALE selected by Medi-Market Group - Manhattan Associates announced that Belgium drugstore retailer Medi-Market Group has selected Manhattan Active SCALE to run its distribution operations. Manhattan's cloud-based solution will enable Medi-Market to improve warehouse productivity and decrease labour costs, giving it the ability to focus on expanding its market reach while substantially increasing pharmaceutical affordability.

08:36 EDT Melco to acquire 75% equity interest in City of Dreams Mediterranean project - Melco Resorts & Entertainment announces that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire from Melco International Development Limited all of Melco International's holding of ordinary shares of ICR Cyprus Holdings Limited which represents a 75% equity interest in ICR Cyprus. Melco International is the majority shareholder of Melco. ICR Cyprus and its subsidiaries is developing the City of Dreams Mediterranean integrated destination resort project in Cyprus. The City of Dreams Mediterranean project is currently under development and scheduled to open in 2021, upon which it is expected to be the largest and premier integrated destination resort in Europe. Pursuant to the Share Purchase Agreement, Melco will acquire the Acquisition Shares in exchange for 55.5 million ordinary shares of Melco, which are equivalent to approximately 18.5 million American depositary shares of the Company, or 4.0% of Melco's outstanding shares as of the date hereof, representing approximately $375M to be issued at the closing of the Transaction. The number of Melco Shares to be issued at the closing of the Transaction was determined by dividing the Transaction Consideration by the 20-day volume weighted average price of the Melco Shares immediately prior to the date of the signing of the Share Purchase Agreement. A special committee of independent directors formed by the Company's Board of Directors to consider the acquisition unanimously approved the Transaction. The Special Committee engaged independent financial and legal advisors to assist in its evaluation process. The Transaction was also approved by the Audit and Risk Committee of the Company. The Transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval by certain Cyprus regulatory authorities, and the execution of a new shareholders' agreement by the Company, the 25% shareholder of ICR Cyprus and ICR Cyprus. The proposed new shareholders' agreement contemplates certain commercial and financial arrangements pursuant to which Melco will provide certain corporate-level management services to the ICR Group for a fixed amount of EUR2 million per annum and have the right to receive an allotment of preference shares in the gaming license-holding subsidiary of ICR Cyprus which will provide the right to a preferential dividend, among other terms. The parties to the Share Purchase Agreement have agreed to use all reasonable endeavors to procure that the conditions to closing of the Transaction are satisfied as soon as practicable and in any event no later than September 20, 2019, or any other date agreed by the parties thereto.

08:34 EDT Agnico Eagle reiterates offer to acquire Alexandria Minerals - Agnico Eagle reiterates that its previously announced offer for all the shares of Alexandria Mineral at 5c per share in cash or shares represents a substantial premium to the offer by Chantrell Ventures to be considered at a meeting of Alexandria shareholders scheduled to be held on June 28. The board of directors of Alexandria has determined that the Agnico Proposal constitutes a "superior proposal" under the terms of the arrangement agreement dated May 14 between Alexandria and Chantrell, entitling Alexandria to terminate the Chantrell Agreement if Chantrell does not match the Agnico Proposal. Alexandria has announced that Chantrell's right to match the Agnico Proposal expires at 11:59 p.m. on June 27. The Agnico Proposal was first announced in Agnico Eagle's news release dated June 13. Agnico Eagle has voted all of the common shares of Alexandria it owns (approximately 28.8M shares, representing approximately 5.6% of the issued and outstanding Alexandria shares) AGAINST the Chantrell offer. In addition, Agnico Eagle intends to exercise its dissent rights with respect to the Chantrell offer, as provided for under the interim order of the court with respect to the Chantrell transaction. Assuming the inferior Chantrell offer is either voted down by Alexandria shareholders or terminated prior to the Alexandria shareholders meeting, Agnico Eagle will proceed with its superior offer.

08:32 EDT Fair Isaac names Michael McLaughlin as CFO, succeeding Mike Pung - FICO (FICO) announced it has appointed Michael McLaughlin as the company's new CFO. McLaughlin, who starts August 3, replaces outgoing CFO Mike Pung, who announced his retirement in January. Pung will help facilitate a smooth transition and will remain with the company until December 31. McLaughlin leaves a position as managing director and head of technology corporate finance at Morgan Stanley (MS), where he has worked for the past 12 years.

08:28 EDT Greenlane does not expect 'material impact' from San Francisco e-cigarette ban - The company said, ""Should a ban of e-cigarettes be enacted in San Francisco or Northern California more broadly, Greenlane does not anticipate a material impact to its business, as sales in these areas represent an immaterial percentage of our total JUUL sales. JUUL continues to be a strong partner and we see significant opportunities to grow our JUUL business, particularly in Canada where sales increased more than 70% in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the previous quarter. We distribute a diversified portfolio of consumption accessories across multiple categories and geographies and are actively expanding our global reach. In addition to our sales in the US and Canada, which both continue to grow across our broader portfolio of product offerings, we currently support and ship products to customers in Europe, Australia, and parts of South America on a limited basis. We are keenly aware of the growth opportunities in these markets and as we continue to expand our marketing, supplier relationships, sales bandwidth and expertise, we anticipate capturing market share in the cannabis, CBD and liquid nicotine end markets in those regions by opening our own distribution centers, acquiring existing international distributors and partnering with local operators."

08:24 EDT Apollo Endosurgery completes patient enrollment for MERIT trial - Apollo Endosurgery announced that the final patient has been enrolled in the multi-center ESG randomized interventional trial, or MERIT. The U.S. based, prospective randomized multi-center-controlled trial is evaluating the effectiveness of the endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty, or ESG, procedure. ESG is an endoscopic weight loss procedure based on full-thickness endoscopic suturing using Apollo's OverStitch device. In the ESG procedure, a series of sutures are placed through the gastric wall reducing the stomach volume by up to 80% creating a restrictive endoscopic sleeve. The result allows a patient to consume less food and remain satiated longer.

08:21 EDT Pebblebrook Hotel to sell Rouge Hotel in Washington, D.C. for $42M - Pebblebrook Hotel announced that it executed a contract to sell the 137-room Rouge Hotel in Washington, D.C. for $42M to a third party. The contracted sale price reflects a 17.4x EBITDA multiple and a 5% net operating income capitalization rate based on the hotel's operating performance for 2018. Based on the trailing 12-month period ended March, the contracted sales price reflects a 17.7x EBITDA multiple and a 4.9% net operating income capitalization rate. The net operating income capitalization rates are after an assumed annual capital reserve of 4% of total hotel revenues. The sale of Rouge Hotel is subject to normal closing conditions, and the company offers no assurances that this sale will be completed on these terms, or at all. The company is targeting to complete the sale in Q3 and continues to be encouraged with pricing levels and overall buyer interest in the investment markets. Following the completion of the sale, the company's estimated total net debt to trailing 12-month corporate EBITDA ratio will be approximately 4.6 times.

08:18 EDT Tetraphase presents TP-6076 data at ASM - In addition to the Xerava findings, new data on TP-6076, Tetraphase's Phase 2 ready candidate for MDR Gram-negative bacteria, such as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumanii, were presented at the American Society for Microbiology, or ASM. These resistant organisms, particularly MDR A. baumannii, are of increasing concern in association with ventilator-associated pneumonia with high morbidity and mortality rates, especially in immunocompromised patients. Studies were performed to evaluate the efficacy of TP-6076 in murine lung infection and murine thigh infection models against MDR A. baumannii clinical isolates. TP-6076 demonstrated high potency against MDR A. baumannii clinical isolates that were used in these in vitro models. Results of the first study indicated TP-6076's ability to penetrate the lung. Single IV doses of TP-6076 were administered to neutropenic mice and epithelial-lining fluid, or ELF, was subsequently evaluated. TP-6076 resulted in statistically significant reductions in bacterial lung titers in the murine lung infection model, with A. baumannii lung colony forming units, or CFU, decreasing when compared to the untreated control group. In comparison, tigecycline resulted in a CFU reduction in mean lung titers. TP-6076's in vivo efficacy was also demonstrated in an immunocompromised murine thigh infection model with A. baumannii. Female neutropenic mice were infected intramuscularly with MDR A. baumannii clinical isolates into their right hind-limb thighs. TP-6076 doses resulted in a statistically significant reduction in mean thigh CFU, compared to the untreated controls. Doses of tigecycline resulted in less than a 2 log10 CFU reduction observed for most isolates, which was not statistically significant. The results of these studies demonstrated in vitro activity of TP-6076 against MDR A. baumannii isolates with statistically significant reductions in bacterial tissue titers in the murine thigh and lung infection models and suggest that TP-6076 has the potential to treat life-threatening multi-drug resistant A. baumannii infections, including ventilator-associated pneumonia.

08:17 EDT Medovex transitioning to new name H-CYTE, announces agreement with Rion - Medovex is transitioning to its new name H-CYTE to underscore its focus of delivering regenerative anti-inflammatory solutions to treat the unmet needs of patients. Within its portfolio, the Company announced H-CYTE will enhance its existing cytotherapy product line, developing a disruptive technology for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. To accelerate this vision, a 10-year exclusive and extendable supply agreement with Rion has been executed that enables H-CYTE to develop proprietary biologics. Rion has established a novel technology to harness the healing power of the body. Rion's novel exosome technology, based on science developed at Mayo Clinic, provides an off-the-shelf platform to enhance healing in soft tissue, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and neurological organ systems. With this agreement, Rion will serve as the product supplier and will co-develop a proprietary cellular platform with H-CYTE for the treatment of COPD. H-CYTE will control the commercial development and facilitate clinical trial investigation. After conducting joint research and development of these biologics, H-CYTE intends to pursue submission of an investigational new drug application for review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of COPD.

08:14 EDT NV5 Global awarded $3M DCBO contract to support ENERGY 2021 initiative - NV5 Global was awarded a contract to provide Delegate Chief Building Official services on behalf of the California Energy Commission for the construction of the Stanton Energy Reliability Center owned by W Power, LLC in partnership with Wellhead Energy, LLC. The contract includes plan review, on-site building inspections, document control and worker safety monitoring and has an estimated value of $3M over 16 months.

08:12 EDT Celldex appoints Diane Young as SVP, CMO - Celldex Therapeutics (CLDX) announced the appointment of Diane Young, M.D., as SVP, chief medical officer, effective July 8, 2019. Young most recently served as the Chief Medical Officer of GTx (GTXI).

08:10 EDT Krystal Biotech anticipates commencing Phase 3 KB103 trial before year-end - The company said, "We recently enrolled and increased frequency of dosing on two additional patients to study chronic wounds in more detail and in preparation of designing a robust pivotal trial. We anticipate commencing the Phase 3 pivotal trial before year end 2019 and will provide a clinical update on these additional patients prior to commencing a pivotal trial. KB103's RMAT designation follows our recent announcement of the Priority Medicines, or PRIME designation received from the EMA, and we look forward to collaborating closely with the EMA and initiating a clinical trial in the EU in the upcoming months. The RMAT pathway is analogous to the Breakthrough Therapy designation designed for traditional drug candidates and medical devices and was specifically created by the U.S. Congress in 2016 to get important new cell therapy and gene therapy products to the patient earlier. Just like the Breakthrough designation, it allows companies developing regenerative medicine therapies to interact with the FDA more frequently in the clinical testing process, and RMAT-designated products may be eligible for priority review and accelerated approval."

08:08 EDT Tenet, Aetna announce multi-year agreement - Tenet (THC) and Aetna, a CVS Health (CVS) company, announced that they have entered into a new multi-year agreement that provides Aetna members with continued in-network access to all of Tenet's hospitals, emergency centers, outpatient centers and employed physicians. The agreement is for a term of four years with an option to extend for a fifth year.

08:02 EDT RBB Bancorp announces 1M share repurchase program - RBB Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has adopted a stock repurchase program. Under the repurchase program, the company may repurchase up to 1M shares of its common stock, or approximately 5% of its outstanding shares.

08:01 EDT Royal Caribbean, ITM Group partner to form new destination company - Royal Caribbean and privately-held ITM Group are teaming to form a new destination company, to be called Holistica. Holistica will create an inclusive model for destination development that works holistically - thus the name - to meet the needs of coastal communities, local governments, and land, sea, and air travelers. Holistica Destinations, Ltd. will be a 50-50 partnership between RCL and ITM Group. The partners have commenced a search for a CEO for the new company, which will be headquartered in Miami.

07:59 EDT Alnylam presents new ONPATTRO results at 2019 PNS meeting - Alnylam Pharmaceuticals announced new results from the Global Open-Label Extension study of ONPATTRO, an RNAi therapeutic for the treatment of the polyneuropathy of hereditary ATTR amyloidosis. In addition, the Company reported on new analyses from the APOLLO Phase 3 study of patisiran and results of an indirect treatment comparison of patisiran and inotersen. 12-month interim results were presented from the ongoing Global OLE study of patisiran evaluating the drug's long-term efficacy and safety in eligible patients who completed the Phase 2 OLE and Phase 3 APOLLO studies. The data presented were as of a September 24, 2018 data cutoff date. Serum transthyretin levels were reduced by approximately 80 percent at 6 months in patients in the placebo arm of APOLLO who started treatment with patisiran, and were durably maintained over time. Patients on treatment for 30 to 36 months demonstrated sustained improvement in neuropathy impairment and quality of life relative to corresponding parent study baselines, as demonstrated by mean negative changes in modified Neuropathy Impairment Score + 7 and Quality of Life - Diabetic Neuropathy scores, respectively. Furthermore, the rapid trajectory of disease progression among APOLLO placebo patients was halted and, in a majority of patients reversed, once patisiran treatment was initiated in the Global OLE. Nevertheless, placebo patients did not return to their parent study baseline, as measured by mNIS+7 or QOL-DN scores, due to the disease worsening experienced while on placebo in APOLLO, highlighting the important need for early treatment with patisiran. As of September 24, 2018, patients in the Global OLE received a mean of 20.5 months of patisiran, with over 6,000 doses administered. The safety of patisiran was consistent with that observed and previously reported in APOLLO and Phase 2 OLE studies, with an encouraging tolerability profile. Mild or moderate infusion-related reactions represented the most common drug-related adverse events. The proportion of patients experiencing IRRs was higher in patients newly treated with patisiran and decreased over time, with no discontinuations attributed to IRRs. Exposure-adjusted mortality occurred at a rate of 4.8 per 100 patient years, comparing favorably with disease natural history and the observed mortality in placebo-treated patients in APOLLO. Mortality was lowest among patients from the Phase 2 OLE group, who initiated patisiran treatment at an earlier stage of disease compared with those in either of the APOLLO study arms. In addition, results were also presented on the impact of patisiran in patients who received tafamidis treatment prior to enrolling in APOLLO. Approximately one-third of patients enrolled in APOLLO were previously treated with tafamidis. Thirty-four percent of those patients discontinued treatment with tafamidis due to disease progression; the majority of other patients discontinued tafamidis to participate in the APOLLO study for unspecified reasons. Patients with prior tafamidis use who received patisiran treatment for 18 months in APOLLO experienced significant improvement from baseline in polyneuropathy and QOL compared with placebo, similar to that observed in the overall APOLLO population. As with the overall study population, improvements in neuropathy impairment were also observed as early as nine months. These data suggest that patients who experience disease progression on tafamidis, or who discontinue tafamidis, may experience improvement in their polyneuropathy and QOL upon initiating treatment with patisiran. Additional data presented at PNS included results from an indirect treatment comparison analysis evaluating the efficacy of patisiran versus inotersen from the Phase 3 APOLLO and NEURO-TTR studies, respectively; there have been no head-to-head clinical studies comparing patisiran with inotersen. An indirect treatment comparison is a method widely accepted by regulators and payers for deriving a comparative estimate between two treatments that have not been compared in head-to-head trials, notwithstanding the limitations of this approach, including differential durations of the respective trials requiring interpolation of data, and the degree of missing outcome data due to higher discontinuations in the NEURO-TTR study. The indirect treatment comparison revealed favorable treatment effects of patisiran relative to inotersen across all endpoints evaluated, including mNIS+7Ionis, QOL, body mass index, and polyneuropathy disability score, as calculated via various statistical models and approaches. Specifically, at 15 months, mean differences in mNIS+7Ionis and QOL - key study endpoints - ranged from -6.5 to -16.2 points and from -8.2 to -11.6 points, respectively, favoring patisiran,

07:56 EDT Tetraphase presents new Xerava data at ASM - Tetraphase announced the presentation of new data on Xerava, a fully synthetic fluorocycline for the treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infections, or cIAI, in adults at the American Society for Microbiology, or ASM. Carbapenem resistance is emerging in E. coli, including its MDR lineage. New agents, including Xerava have distinctive mechanisms that inhibit or kill many carbapenem-resistant organisms. Accordingly, Johnson et al. tested these antibiotics against clinical E. coli isolates, including those that are carbapenem resistant, from surveillance systems encompassing multiple sites across the U.S. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of 179 U.S. clinical E. coli isolates, which were non-susceptible to one or more carbapenems, were determined with cefiderocol, ceftazidime-avibactam and Xerava; three carbapenems and eight non-carbapenem comparators. Using FDA/Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, or CLSI, breakpoint interpretations, the percent susceptible isolates was higher for cefiderocol, ceftazidime-avibactam and Xerava than for any carbapenem and for all other comparators except tigecycline and colistin. These data demonstrated that cefiderocol, ceftazidime-avibactam and Xerava were highly active overall among the carbapenem-resistant E. coli clinical isolates, notwithstanding variation by phylogroup, clonal group, New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase genotype and geographical region. Given these results, Xerva may be a promising new treatment option for infections caused by carbapenem-resistant, multidrug-resistant E. coli. In a large, ongoing surveillance study of Xerava, researchers evaluated the in vitro activity of the drug against Gram-negative and Gram-positive global isolates collected in 2017, including MDR pathogens. A total of 7,084 bacterial isolates were collected from different geographic regions, including Europe, the U.S. and Asia/Pacific. Overall, Xerava exhibited potent in vitro activity against Enterobacteriaceae, A. baumannii and clinically important Gram-positive organisms, including resistant pathogens. The MICs of Xerava against all Enterobacteriaceae were generally two- to four-fold lower than tigecycline, including for MDR isolates. In an additional Xerava study, up to 15 hospitals submitted pathogens collected from 2014-2018 from patients attending hospital clinics, emergency rooms, medical and surgical wards, and intensive care units as part of CANWARD, an ongoing national Health Canada and Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance partnered surveillance program in Canadian hospitals. The in vitro activity of Xerava was compared to a variety of other antibiotics against a total of 15,887 Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens and showed that Xerava was more active than meropenem and piperacillin-tazobactam against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Acinetobacter baumannii.

07:47 EDT Ebix expands A.D.A.M. Health Services business with client wins - Ebix announced that it has built the A.D.A.M. Health services Division in India, with annualized revenue streams of approximately $3.5M to $4M a year. In Q2 2019, the A.D.A.M. Health Services division in India deployed new Health services clients like Danisco India, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Medley Pharmaceuticals, Cargill India, Orient Electric, Amway India, Abbot Healthcare, Veeba Food, McW Healthcare, Indiabulls Pharmaceuticals, Koye Pharmaceuticals, Corner Store technologies and Modern Advertising Agency etc.

07:44 EDT Emerald Health receives cultivation license for cannabis operation in BC - Emerald Health Therapeutics has received its initial cultivation license from Health Canada for its new organic cannabis growing facility in Metro Vancouver, BC. Tailor-made for Emerald to produce high-quality organic cannabis, the operation comprises two 78,000 square foot greenhouses and 12 acres of outdoor cultivation, with potential for an additional 12 acres. This license permits cultivation in an initial 15,000 sq. ft. of greenhouse area. This site was purposefully designed for organic cultivation with the goal to exceed 30,000 kg of annual production, assuming licensing of the entire indoor and outdoor production area. Construction of the first greenhouse is complete; the second greenhouse is expected to be completed in Q4; and the first 12 acres of outdoor area is ready for planting. Production at the facility is subject to obtaining necessary municipal approvals, which Emerald is working to complete. Emerald also reports that Punit Dhillon has received Health Canada security clearance and has been reappointed to the Company's Board of Directors. Emerald also announced that it has issued an aggregate of 4,850,000 incentive stock options as well as 350,000 restricted stock units to certain of its employees and directors pursuant to the Company's Omnibus Incentive Plan. These RSUs are to be settled by the issuance of 475,000 shares. The options shall be subject to the applicable policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

07:43 EDT Valeritas sells over 20M V-Go insulin delivery devices in the U.S. - Valeritas Holdings announced it has surpassed a significant milestone of selling more than 20 million V-Go insulin delivery devices in the United States.

07:40 EDT Axsome Therapeutics initiates GEMINI Phase 3 trial of AXS-05 - Axsome Therapeutics enrolled the first patient in its GEMINI study, a Phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of AXS-05 in the treatment of major depressive disorder. AXS-05 is a novel, oral, investigational NMDA receptor antagonist with multimodal activity. Topline results from the GEMINI trial are anticipated in the second half of 2019.

07:39 EDT Applied Therapeutics initiates Phase 1/2 sstudy of AT-007 - Applied Therapeutics announced the initiation of a Phase 1/2 study of AT-007 in Galactosemia. The study, termed ACTION-Galactosemia, will investigate safety and pharmacokinetics of AT-007, a central nervous system penetrant Aldose Reductase inhibitor in healthy volunteers, and will then explore safety, PK and biomarker effects in adult subjects with Galactosemia. The multicenter study will primarily enroll patients with Classic Galactosemia, the most common form of Galactosemia in the US, but will also seek to enroll a single cohort of GALK deficient patients, which is more common in Europe. Applied Therapeutics plans to leverage recent FDA guidance permitting biomarker-based development in low prevalence, slowly progressing rare metabolic diseases, such as Galactosemia.

07:38 EDT Brainsway announces shipment of 100th Deep TMS helmet for treatment of OCD - BrainsWay announced the shipment of the 100th Deep TMS helmet for the treatment of OCD in adults since receiving De Novo clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for this indication in August 2018.

07:34 EDT Del Frisco's to be acquired by L Catterton for approx. $650M - Del Frisco's Restaurant Group and L Catterton announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which affiliates of L Catterton will acquire the Company in an all cash transaction valued at approximately $650M. Del Frisco's stockholders will receive $8.00 per share, representing a 22% percent premium to the closing share price on December 19, 2018, the last trading day prior to Company's announcement of a strategic alternatives process, and a premium of approximately 21% to the 30-day volume weighted average price ended on June 21, 2019. The agreement was unanimously approved by Del Frisco's Board of Directors following a thorough review of a full range of strategic alternatives by Del Frisco's Strategic Alternatives Review Committee, which was first announced on December 20, 2018. The transaction is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2019, subject to approval by Del Frisco's stockholders, expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as well as other customary closing conditions. Engaged Capital and certain of its affiliates, collectively holding nearly 10% of the outstanding shares of the Company, have entered into voting agreements committing them to, among other things and subject to its terms, vote in favor of adopting the acquisition agreement.

07:32 EDT W.P. Carey announces recent investments totaling approximately $53M - W. P. Carey announced recent investments totaling approximately $53M. The investments comprise mission-critical industrial properties triple-net leased to industry-leading tenants with strong private equity sponsorship and a weighted average lease term of 20 years.

07:30 EDT GasLog, GasLog Partners agree to eliminate incentive distribution rights - GasLog (GLOG) and GasLog Partners LP (GLOP) announced an agreement to eliminate the GP's incentive distribution rights in exchange for newly issued limited partner units. In exchange for the IDRs, GasLog will receive 2,532,911 common units and 2,490,000 Class B units. The transaction is expected to close on June 30, 2019. The Class B units will be a new class of LP interest and will not be entitled to receive any cash distributions until they convert into common units. The Class B units also generally will not have voting rights until they convert into common units. The Class B units will become eligible for conversion on a one-for-one basis into common units at the GP's option in six tranches of 415,000 units per annum on July 1 of 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. The Board of Directors of GasLog, the Board of Directors of GasLog Partners and the Conflicts Committee of the Board have each approved the transaction described above. Evercore advised the Conflicts Committee of the Board. The highlights of the transaction are: Immediately accretive to the Partnership's distributable cash flow per LP unit; Cash flow neutral based on current IDR distributions; Enhances GasLog Partners' ability to pursue growth opportunities by reducing its expected cost of capital; Increases GasLog's ownership in the Partnership, strengthening GP/LP alignment; Reduces complexity in GasLog's structure and simplifies the presentation of financial results; and Reiteration of GasLog Partners' distribution growth guidance of 2% to 4% for 2019.

07:27 EDT Alliance Resource Partners to acquire $145M of Permian Basin interests - Alliance Resource Partners announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire oil and gas mineral interests from Wing Resources and Wing Resources II for a cash purchase price of $145M. Upon closing, the transaction will increase ARLP's presence in the Permian Basin through the addition of approximately 9,000 net royalty acres in the Midland Basin, with exposure to more than 400,000 gross acres. There are 783 gross horizontal wells currently producing on the acreage to be acquired delivering an estimated 460 BOE per day net to the Wing interests. With an additional 441 drilled but uncompleted wells and 279 permits, these assets are under active development by well-capitalized operators bringing visible and near-term growth to current production. ARLP will fund the purchase with cash on hand and borrowings under its credit facility. The agreement provides for an effective date of May 1 and the transaction is expected to close in early August. Following the acquisition of Wing's assets, ARLP will directly own approximately 51,000 net royalty acres concentrated in the Permian Basin, SCOOP/STACK, Bakken and Appalachian Basin. ARLP also indirectly owns approximately 3,950 net royalty acres through its limited partner interest in AllDale Minerals.

07:23 EDT Post Holdings narrows FY19 adjusted EBITDA view $1.2B-$1.22B from $1.2B-$1.24B - Post Holdings provided an update to its previously issued non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA guidance for fiscal year 2019. Post management has narrowed its fiscal year 2019 Adjusted EBITDA guidance to range between $1.205-$1.225B, from $1.20-$1.24B, which excludes the results of 8th Avenue Food & Provisions and any contribution from the previously announced acquisition of the private label ready-to-eat cereal business of TreeHouse Foods.

07:21 EDT Pluristem appoints Yaky Yanay as sole CEO - Pluristem Therapeutics announced the completion of the transition period of its Co-CEO structure and the appointment of Yaky Yanay as sole CEO and President of Pluristem and the appointment of Zami Aberman as Executive Chairman of the Board.

07:14 EDT Dana announces reduction of pension liabilities - Dana announced that the company has transferred all liabilities associated with the Dana Retirement Plan, its largest tax-qualified U.S. defined benefit plan, by purchasing group annuity contracts for all remaining plan participants. The company contributed approximately $62M of additional cash to the plan to facilitate the transfer. The pension liabilities were transferred to two highly rated, investment-grade insurance companies selected by an independent fiduciary. The selected companies will pay and administer future benefit payments to plan participants. The combination of the annuity purchase and a lump-sum offer in May removes nearly $940M of pension obligations, of which approximately $166M was previously unfunded, from the company's balance sheet.

07:12 EDT McDermott awarded large offshore EPCI contract from Saudi Aramco - McDermott announced a large contract award from Saudi Aramco for engineering, procurement, construction and installation services in the Marjan and Zuluf fields, offshore Saudi Arabia. The contract includes the full suite of EPCI services for the relocation of Control Rooms in Zuluf GOSP-4, Marjan GOSP 2 and 3 including the fabrication of new control rooms, boat landings and new jacket members, as well as the upgrade of all control systems as required. The project is scheduled to be fully executed from McDermott's Al Khobar office and Dammam fabrication facility, in line with its strategic focus to strengthen In-Kingdom content. Work on the project will begin immediately and the contract award will be reflected in McDermott's second quarter backlog.

07:09 EDT Correvio resubmits Brinavess NDA to FDA - Correvio announced it has resubmitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. FDA seeking approval for Brinavess, its antiarrhythmic drug for the rapid conversion of adult patients with recent onset atrial fibrillation. Brinavess has received marketing authorizations in 41 countries outside the United States.

07:05 EDT Bristol-Myers plans Otezla sale to get FTC Celgene clearance - Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) provided an update on the approval process and timeline for the company's pending merger with Celgene (CELG). The company remains actively engaged in discussions with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on the FTC's continued review of the proposed transaction. To allow the transaction to close on a timely basis in light of concerns expressed by the FTC, the company is planning the divestiture of OTEZLA. The divestiture is subject to further review by the FTC and requires that Bristol-Myers Squibb enter into a consent decree with the FTC. Once the FTC accepts the consent order and the other customary closing conditions are satisfied, Bristol-Myers Squibb intends to close the Celgene transaction at the earliest possible date, which it currently expects to be at the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020. The proceeds of the OTEZLA sale will allow Bristol-Myers Squibb to accelerate its post-closing deleveraging plans. Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene have concluded their pre-notification process with the European Commission, and are pleased to confirm that they have submitted the formal application for clearance by the European Commission. The company commented: "Bristol-Myers Squibb is committed to working with regulatory authorities around the world on the proposed combination with Celgene. The company is focused on realizing the promise of the transaction, and is continuing to work to complete the transaction on a timely basis. Bristol-Myers Squibb reaffirms the significant value creation opportunity of the acquisition of Celgene. Together with $2.5 billion of cost synergies, a compelling pipeline and a strong portfolio of marketed products, the company continues to expect growth in sales and earnings through 2025. The company is continuing to develop its promising immunology pipeline asset, tyrosine kinase 2 inhibitor, in several autoimmune diseases, including psoriasis. Bristol-Myers Squibb looks forward to advancing its leadership in core areas of focus, including immunology, and delivering highly innovative medicines that bring meaningful benefits to patients as a combined company." Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene have received approval for Bristol-Myers Squibb's acquisition of Celgene from their respective shareholders.

07:02 EDT Athenex announces FDA allowance of IND application for PT01 - Athenex announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has allowed the Company's Investigational New Drug application for the clinical investigation of PT01 for the treatment of patients with advanced malignancies. The allowance is contingent upon formal submission of agreed upon updates to the IND. Pegtomarginase is a biologic product candidate in Athenex's pipeline that is designed to provide a metabolic approach to the treatment of cancer through arginine deprivation therapy.

06:57 EDT Leidos awarded $49M HHS artificial intelligence contract - Leidos has been selected by the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, to compete for task orders to provide intelligent automation and artificial intelligence, or IAAI, solutions and services. The multiple award, indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity contract has a total estimated value of $49M over a five-year base period. Leidos will enable HHS and other federal agencies to obtain, adopt and apply AI technologies. The Leidos team will use its experience and technical capabilities to deploy IAAI solutions using machine learning, deep learning, machine vision, blockchain, microservices and robotic process automation.

06:51 EDT AdvanSix sees $7M-$12M unfavorable impact in Q3 due to PES refinery fire - AdvanSix said that the company is assessing the potential business impact of the fire that occurred Friday morning at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions' refinery in Philadelphia. PES is one of multiple suppliers to AdvanSix of cumene, a feedstock material used to produce phenol, acetone and other chemical intermediates. The company continues to operate its facilities while implementing its mitigation plans, including evaluation of business interruption insurance. "We are thankful for the safety of all PES employees and have offered our assistance in the local area following Friday's significant fire," said Erin Kane, president and CEO of AdvanSix. "As a result of this event, we expect an increase in our feedstock and logistics costs to persist into the third quarter 2019. We are actively working with a number of suppliers to mitigate the impact on our business operations. Based on various planning scenarios and our current understanding of the PES fire's impact on our business, the company anticipates an approximately $7 to $12 million unfavorable impact to pre-tax income in the third quarter 2019, including incremental raw material and logistics costs as well as a modest unfavorable impact from fixed cost absorption." The company remains on force majeure with phenol customers and does not expect a material impact to second quarter financial results from the PES fire.

06:35 EDT Caesars up 16% to $11.60 after agreeing to be acquired by Eldorado Resorts

06:22 EDT Tutor Perini unit awarded $122M contract by Guam Waterworks Authority - Tutor Perini announced that its subsidiary, Black Construction Corporation, has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $122M by the Guam Waterworks Authority for the Upgrade of the Northern Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Village of Dededo, Guam. The project scope of work includes the complete construction of new secondary wastewater treatment facilities at the Northern District Wastewater Treatment Plant, as well as upgrades and repurposing of certain existing infrastructure and facilities at the plant. Work is expected to begin in the third quarter with substantial completion anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2021. The contract value will be included in the company's second quarter.

06:19 EDT Tutor Perini unit awarded $200M contract in the Bay Area - Tutor Perini announced that its subsidiary, Rudolph and Sletten, has been awarded a contract valued over $200M by a confidential technology customer for a major tenant improvement project in the Bay Area. The project includes the build-out of approximately 760,000 square-feet of offices, laboratory, technical support and cafeteria/kitchen space. The project will begin immediately with preconstruction, and construction is targeted to start this September with completion within one year. The contract value will be included in the company's second quarter backlog.

06:13 EDT Archrock to acquire Elite Compression for $410M - Archrock announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all assets of Elite Compression Services, a portfolio company of JDH Capital Company, including approximately 430,000 of predominately large-horsepower compression assets for total consideration of $410M. The transaction will be funded with approximately $205M of cash and approximately 21.7M newly issued Archrock common shares to the seller. In conjunction with the transaction, Harvest Midstream Company will acquire approximately 80,000 active and idle compression horsepower from Archrock for $30M in cash. Archrock's Board of Directors has appointed energy industry veteran Jeffery D. Hildebrand, Executive Chairman and Founder, of Hilcorp Energy Company, which is affiliated with JDH Capital and Harvest Midstream, to Archrock's Board of Directors upon closing of the transactions. "We are excited to announce the acquisition of Elite's excellent contract compression operations in a transaction that will immediately benefit Archrock shareholders through accretive earnings and cash flow growth," said Brad Childers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Archrock. "The assets being acquired from Elite are highly utilized, predominantly large-horsepower compression units, more than 80% of which are contracted for more than three years with blue-chip customers. We expect the acquired assets to generate approximately $55M of annualized adjusted EBITDA, inclusive of $5M in annualized cost synergies. In addition, this transaction adds basin density in our core areas, with more than 70% of the units deployed in the Eagle Ford and South Texas region, and the concurrent sale of non-core equipment further standardizes our asset portfolio. We believe these transactions support our ability to achieve our stated financial targets, including reducing our leverage to below 4.0x in 2020, growing our dividend between 10% and 15% annually through 2020, and maintaining dividend coverage of more than 2.0x through 2020." The acquisition will be financed with 21,656,683 Archrock shares to be issued to JDH Capital and $175M in cash, on a net basis. The acquisition and pending sale transactions are subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals, and are expected to close during the third quarter.

06:10 EDT Nanometrics, Rudolph Technologies to combine in an all-stock merger of equals - Nanometrics (NANO) and Rudolph Technologies, Inc. (RTEC) announced that they have agreed to combine in an all-stock merger of equals transaction. The merged company will be a premier end-to-end metrology, inspection, process control software, and lithography equipment provider for the semiconductor industry and other advanced markets. Under the terms of the agreement, which was unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, Rudolph stockholders will receive 0.8042 shares of Nanometrics common stock for each Rudolph share. Upon completion of the merger, current Nanometrics stockholders will own approximately 50% and current Rudolph stockholders will own approximately 50% of the combined company. Rudolph CEO Michael Plisinski will serve as Chief Executive Officer and Rudolph CFO Steven Roth will serve as Chief Financial Officer of the combined company, alongside a highly experienced leadership team comprised of executives from both companies. The Board of Directors will be led by Nanometrics director Christopher Seams and will have 12 directors, consisting of six from each existing Board. The combined company will be headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts and will maintain a strong presence at Nanometrics' headquarters in Milpitas, California. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2019, subject to the completion of customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals, and approval by the stockholders of each company.

06:08 EDT Eldorado Resorts to acquire Caesars for $12.75 per share, or about $17.3B - Eldorado Resorts (ERI) and Caesars Entertainment (CZR) announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to create the largest U.S. gaming company. Eldorado will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Caesars for a total value of $12.75 per share, consisting of $8.40 per share in cash consideration and 0.0899 shares of Eldorado common stock for each Caesars share of common stock based on Eldorado's 30-calendar day volume weighted average price per share as of May 23, reflecting total consideration of approximately $17.3B, comprised of $7.2B in cash, approximately 77M Eldorado common shares and the assumption of Caesars outstanding net debt. Caesars shareholders will be offered a consideration election mechanism that is subject to proration pursuant to the definitive merger agreement. Giving effect to the transaction, Eldorado and Caesars shareholders will hold approximately 51% and 49% of the combined company's outstanding shares, respectively. Upon completion of the transaction the combined company will retain the Caesars name to capitalize on the value of the iconic global brand and its legacy of leadership in the global gaming industry. The new company will continue to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. The combined company's Board of Directors will consist of 11 members, six of whom will come from Eldorado's Board of Directors and five of whom will come from Caesars Board of Directors. The transactions have been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of Eldorado, Caesars and VICI. The Caesars transaction is subject to approval of the stockholders of Eldorado and Caesars, the approval of applicable gaming authorities, the expiration of the applicable Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period and other customary closing conditions, and is expected to be consummated in the first half of 2020.

06:02 EDT US Ecology, NRC Group to merge in all-stock transaction

05:23 EDT Insight Enterprises to acquire PCM, Inc. for $35 per share - Insight Enterprises (NSIT) and PCM, Inc. (PCMI) have entered into an agreement under which Insight will acquire PCM for $35 per share, representing a 36% premium to its 1-month average closing share price as of Friday, June 21. The transaction implies an enterprise value of approximately $581M, including cash and debt acquired. Insight expects to realize annual run-rate cost synergies of approximately $70M by the end of 2021, with more than 50% of this to be realized in the first twelve to eighteen months, primarily related to the consolidation of IT and delivery systems, and real estate and operational integration. Insight expects the acquisition to add more than 70c to adjusted EPS in 2020, excluding: approximately $25M in transaction-related costs and restructuring expenses, most of which will be incurred in 2019, and intangibles amortization expense. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2019.

05:10 EDT Motorola Solutions awarded tender for supplying POC service to Israel Railways - Motorola Solutions has been awarded a tender for supplying The Israel Railways Company with a new push-to-talk over cellular, or POC, communication solution "to improve efficiency and safety of operations. "The company will supply up to 3,000 devices powered with WAVE, Motorola Solutions' work group communication service, allowing operational communication across the railway's lines, offices and maintenance and logistical compounds. The solution is set to replace the railway company's previous communication service 'Mirs', based on Integrated Digital Enhanced Network technology. "According to the contract, Motorola Solutions will supply, install, operate and maintain the POC-based wireless communications system for Israel Railways for three years, with an optional extended period of five years. Hot Mobile will serve as the mobile network carrier."