Merger Arbitrage Mondays – May 21, 2018
Merger activity decreased last week with three new deals announced and two pending deals closing. You can find all the active deals listed below in our Merger Arbitrage Tool (MAT) that automatically updates itself during market hours.
There were three new deals announced in the Deals in the Works section.
Deal Statistics:
| Total Number of Deals Closed in 2018 | 55 |
| Total Number of Deals Not Completed in 2018 | 5 |
| Total Number of Pending Deals |
| Cash Deals | 44 |
| Stock Deals | 14 |
| Stock & Cash Deals | 18 |
| Collars | 1 |
| Special Conditions | 9 |
| Total Number of Pending Deals | 85 |
| Total Deal Size | $959.41 billion |
New Deals:
- The acquisition of State Bank Financial Corporation (STBZ) by Cadence Bancorporation (CADE) for $1.6 billion in an all stock deal. Under the terms of the merger agreement, State Bank Financial Corporation shareholders will receive 1.160 shares of Cadence Bancorporation Class A common stock for each share of State Bank common stock.
- The acquisition of Abaxis (ABAX) by Zoetis (ZTS) for $1.7 billion or $83 per share in cash.
- The acquisition of Williams Partners (WPZ) by The Williams Companies (WMB) for $10.5 billion in an all stock deal. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Williams will acquire all of the outstanding units of Williams Partners at a fixed exchange ratio of 1.494 Williams shares for each public unit of Williams Partners (or a fixed exchange ratio of 1.513 if the closing does not occur before the record date for Williams’ dividend to be paid in the third quarter of 2018).
Deal Updates:
- May 14, 2018: According to Bloomberg, Chinese regulators have restarted their review of Qualcomm (QCOM)’s application to acquire NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) after having shelved the work earlier in reaction to growing trade tensions with the U.S.
- On May 15, 2018, Microchip Technology Incorporated (MCHP) announced, in connection with its pending acquisition of Microsemi Corporation (MSCC), that it has obtained antitrust clearances from China’s Ministry of Commerce, the Japan Fair Trade Commission, the Philippine Competition Commission, the Austrian Federal Competition Authority, and the German Federal Cartel Office. Completion of the merger also remains subject to certain other closing conditions, including approval by the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission and Microsemi stockholders. Assuming the timely receipt of the remaining regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of the other closing conditions, Microchip anticipates that the merger will be completed in late May/early June 2018.
- On May 18, 2018, Fresenius SE’s chief executive defended the company’s decision to pull out of a planned $4.8 billion takeover of Akorn (AKRX), saying it was the only option after uncovering data integrity breaches at the U.S drugmaker.
Closed Deals:
- The acquisition of AveXis (AVXS) by Novartis (NVS) on May 15, 2018. It took 37 days for this deal to be completed.
- The acquisition of ZAIS Group Holdings (ZAIS) by Z Acquisition on May 18, 2018. It took 126 days for this deal to be completed.
Top 10 deals with largest spreads:
Closing
Price |
|---|
| AKRX | 04/24/2017 | Fresenius Kabi (N/A) | $34.00 | $13.98 | 06/30/2018 | 143.20% | 1306.74% |
| GNW | 10/23/2016 | China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co., Ltd. (N/A) | $5.43 | $3.34 | 07/01/2018 | 62.57% | 557.07% |
| RAD | 02/18/2018 | Albertsons Companies, Inc. (N/A) | $2.50 | $1.69 | 09/30/2018 | 47.93% | 132.53% |
| SCG | 01/03/2018 | Dominion Energy, Inc. (D) | $42.34 | $34.32 | 12/31/2018 | 23.37% | 38.08% |
| ESRX | 03/08/2018 | Cigna Corporation (CI) | $92.09 | $75.65 | 12/31/2018 | 21.73% | 35.42% |
| STC | 03/16/2018 | Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (FNF) | $49.67 | $42.6 | 06/30/2019 | 16.59% | 14.95% |
| GGP | 03/26/2018 | Brookfield Property Partners (BPY) | $23.50 | $20.28 | 07/31/2018 | 15.88% | 81.62% |
| NXPI | 10/27/2016 | QUALCOMM Incorporated (QCOM) | $127.50 | $111.02 | 05/31/2018 | 14.84% | 541.81% |
| SHPG | 05/08/2018 | Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TKPYY) | $194.74 | $169.61 | 06/30/2019 | 14.82% | 13.35% |
| S | 04/29/2018 | T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS) | $5.84 | $5.11 | 06/30/2019 | 14.26% | 12.85% |
List of all pending deals:
The list of all pending deals is only available to InsideArbitrage Premium and Plus members.
Disclaimer: I hold positions in SteadyMed (STDY), WGL Holdings (WGL), GGP Inc. (GGP), magicJack VocalTec (CALL), Monsanto (MON), Rite Aid (RAD) and Southcross Energy Partners (SXE). Please do your own due diligence before buying or selling any securities mentioned in this article. We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the content or data provided in this article.
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