Avon is an iconic American company that has been around for nearly 130 years. But Avon is struggling. And there’s not enough makeup in the world to make it more attractive.
Things have gotten so bleak for Avon (AVP) that investors actually pushed the stock higher Thursday following a report of a takeover offer … that turned out to be fake.
An entity calling itself PTG Capital filed a letter with the SEC claiming that it wanted to buy Avon for $18.75 a share — nearly triple what the stock was trading at on Wednesday.
Shares surged as much as 20% shortly after news of the filing started to spread. But traders and financial reporters quickly poked holes in the “offer.”
The filing had typos in it. PTG was referred to as TPG on two occasions. (TPG is an