The lull we saw in mergers the week prior proved to be nothing more than a temporary slowdown as deal activity picked up once again with four new deals announced last week. None of the pending deals closed last week.
The new deals include the acquisition of American Italian Pasta (AIPC) by Ralcorp Holdings (RAH) for $53 per share in cash, the acquisition of Alloy (ALOY) by ZelnickMedia for $9.80 per share in cash, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Puerto Rico based Santander Bancorp (SBP), Administracian de Bancos Latinoamericanos Santander, S.L. (“ABLASA”) is making a tender offer for $12.69 per share in cash for all shares of Santander Bancorp it does not already own and the acquisition of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX) by Biovail (BVF) in a cash plus stock deal. Valeant stockholders will get a one-time special cash dividend of $16.77 per share and 1.7809 shares of Biovail common stock. The combined company will pay an additional $1/share dividend to all stockholders of the new entity.
EF Johnson Technology (EFJI) announced an amended merger agreement with Francisco Partners increasing the purchase price by over 42% from $1.05 per share to $1.50 per share in cash.
Portec Rail Products (PRPX), one of the three pending deals I picked last week as appearing attractive, spiked 2.43% on nearly 10 times average daily volume on Friday. It remains to be seen if its merger with L.B. Foster will complete by the end of this month as announced. In contrast, Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) dropped last week, making the deal look even more attractive. I own positions in both these companies and may also start a position in DivX (DIVX), the third company I picked last week.