Merger activity increased last week with four new deals announced and two deals closing. You can find all the active deals listed below in our Merger Arbitrage Tool (MAT) that automatically updates itself during market hours.
This is the first time since we started tracking potential deals in the ‘Deals in the Works’ section of our website more than three years ago that all the confirmed deals that were announced last week had been ‘deals in the works’.
Gilead Sciences (GILD) had approached cancer therapy company Forty Seven (FTSV) with a takeover offer on February 27, 2020. On March 2, 2020, the deal was confirmed. Forty Seven’s stock appreciated from $48.79 on February 27 to $93.91 after the deal was announced on March 2. On September 11, 2019, according to Reuters, the Donerail Group, an investment firm led by former activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP executive William Wyatt, had built a stake in Mobile Mini (MINI) and was pushing the company to explore a sale. On March 2, 2020, Mobile Mini agreed to combine with WillScot Corporation in an all stock deal at a 20.33% premium to the closing price of MINI after we added it to our list of potential deals.
We added QIAGEN N.V. (QGEN) to our list of potential deals on November 13, 2019, when Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) announced that it was considering purchasing the company. This deal was confirmed on March 3, 2020 when TMO announced that it was acquiring QIAGEN at a premium of approximately 17% to the closing price of the stock after the potential deal was announced. The fourth successful ‘potential deal’ last week was the acquisition of the Meet Group (MEET). On December 16, 2019, the NuCom Group had announced that it was exploring the acquisition of U.S. live streaming app developer Meet Group (MEET). This deal was confirmed on March 5, 2020 at a premium of over 16%.
There was one new deal announced in the Deals in the Works section last week. On March 6, 2020, Gray Television Inc (GTN) made an offer to acquire larger peer Tegna (TGNA) for approximately $8.5 billion. This is the second time we have added TGNA to our list of potential deals. On August 16, 2019, Apollo Global Management (APO) had approached the company about a deal.