UPDATE: Oppenheimer Reiterates Outpeform, $55 PT on TPC Group Following Merger Agreement

Oppenheimer reiterated its Outperform rating and $55 price target on TPC Group

following the company's announcement of a merger agreement with two other companies. Oppenheimer commented, "After a month of press speculation, TPC Group announced today that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement with First Reserve Corporation and SK Capital Partners for $40/share cash. The transaction is expected to close 4Q12. Stockholders representing approximately 22% of TPCG's outstanding shares (presumably QVT and One East) have entered into agreements to vote in favor of the transaction. Despite this, we continue to believe $40/share would be viewed as inadequate by many shareholders, below where the stock was earlier this year and last year, only 10.4x '13E P/E, 5.0x FV/EBITDA, and a FV of $850M vs. $1.9B replacement value." TPC Group closed at $39.55 on Friday.