Merger Arbitrage Mondays – Cisco’s Acquisition of Acacia Trades At A 9% Discount

Merger activity remained steady last week with three new deals announced and one pending deal closing. You can find all the active deals listed below in our Merger Arbitrage Tool (MAT) that automatically updates itself during market hours.

There was one new deal announced in the Deals in the Works section.

Deal Statistics:

New Deals:

1. The acquisition of Acacia Communications (ACIA) by Cisco Systems (CSCO) for $2.6 billion or $70.00 per share in cash. The spread for an all cash deal of this type that does not list China as one of its regulatory risks is unusually large at 8.7%.
2. The acquisition of Milacron Holdings (MCRN) by Hillenbrand (HI) for $2 billion in a cash plus stock deal. Under the terms of the agreement, Milacron stockholders will receive $11.80 in cash and a fixed exchange ratio of 0.1612 shares of Hillenbrand common stock for each share of Milacron common stock they own.
3. The acquisition of Tower International (TOWR) by Autokiniton Global Group for $900 million or $31.00 per share in cash.

Deal Updates:

1. On July 8, 2019, Roche and Spark Therapeutics (ONCE) agreed to extend the deadline for the takeover bid. The new deadline for both companies to extend the merger agreement is now April 30, 2020, rather than January 31, 2020.
2. On July 8, 2019, Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) won unconditional EU antitrust approval for its takeover of payments company Worldpay (WP).
3. On July 9, 2019, Chesapeake Lodging Trust (CHSP) announced that its board of trustees has determined that the special meeting of shareholders will be held on Tuesday, September 10, 2019.
4. On July 10, 2019, Sotheby’s (BID) received early termination of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.
5. On July 10, 2019, Barnes & Noble (BKS) announced that the 15 calendar day waiting period under the HSR Act has expired. Accordingly, the condition of the Offer relating to the expiration or termination of the HSR Act waiting period has been satisfied.
6. On July 11, 2019, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC) announced that its special meeting of shareholders will be held on August 8, 2019.
7. July 11, 2019: According to The Wall Street Journal, negotiations to complete the merger of T-Mobile US (TMUS) and Sprint (S) are dragging on as the parties haggle over ownership restrictions and other conditions for Dish Network Corp. once it gets assets from the wireless companies.

Closed Deals:

1. The acquisition of Red Hat (RHT) by IBM (IBM) on July 9, 2019. It took 253 days for this deal to be completed.

Top 10 deals with largest spreads:

List of all pending deals:

The list of all pending deals is only available to InsideArbitrage Premium and Plus members.

Disclaimer: I hold long positions in Mellanox Technologies (MLNX), Pacific Biosciences of California (PACB), Celgene (CELG), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) and Finisar (FNSR). 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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