Palm Inc. (PALM) today raised its secondary offering of approximately 16 million shares of common stock (as announced on September 17) to 20 million shares. The company priced the offering at $16.25 per share. Upon the closing of the offering, Palm expects to receive net proceeds of approximately $313.1 million, which will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes. The company may receive $359.9 million in case the over-allotment option is exercised in full. The company also said that the underwriters have an option to purchase up to 3 million additional shares to cover over-allotments. Venture capital firm Elevation Partners, which owns a stake in Palm, plans to buy $35 million of shares in the sale. Goldman Sachs (GS) and J.P. Morgan (JPM) are serving as the joint book runners in the offering, and RBC Capital Markets is serving as co-manager....

Palm Inc. (PALM) has agreed to sell to Elevation Partners 100,000 units of preferred stock and warrants (which can be separated and traded independently) for $100 million. Elevation Partners is already a major stockholder of PALM.Both the preferred and the warrants are convertible into common stock at $3.25 a share.PALM is number three in the smart phone business after Research in Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry and Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and is rapidly losing market share as illustrated by the recent second quarter results. PALM is expected to introduce a new operating system and a new phone in 2009. In the second quarter PALM had negative cash flow. The company has $2.04 in cash per share (before the new infusion) but has $7.57 in debt. We do not expect the company to reverse its fortunes in the near term.

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Kenya Growth Stalls Quickly; Caterpillar Cuts Pay and Jobs; Wal-Mart Offers $2.66 Billion for Chile’s Biggest Grocer; Walgreen Falls Short, Cuts Opening Plans; Palm Gets $100 Million Injection; JPMorgan Buys UBS Assets; Oil Falls 6%

Kenya’s economy grew 2.1% in the third quarter, down significantly from the 6.3% gross domestic product growth it posted a year earlier. On top of the global financial crisis, Kenya suffered from post-election violence and a severe drought, Bloomberg reported. Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) said it will offer buyouts to some employees and cut white-collar pay by up to 50%. Last week, the heavy equipment maker announced plans to lay off 814 works at its engine assembly plant, Reuters reported. Wal-Mart ...