Merger Arbitrage Mondays – Yet Another Deal Receives A Higher Bid

Merger activity increased last week with five new deals announced and three deals completed. Two of the five new deals announced last week were potential deals in the work. The acquisition of Slack Technologies (WORK) by salesforce.com (CRM) was announced as a successful deal just five days after the potential deal was announced.

The largest deal of the year was announced last Monday. IHS Markit (INFO), formerly know as Information Handling Services was founded in 1959 by Richard O’Brien as a provider of product catalog databases on microfilm for aerospace engineers. The company provides critical information, analytics, and solutions to customers ranging from governments and multinational companies to smaller businesses and technical professionals. On November 30, 2020, S&P Global (SPGI) and IHS Markit (INFO) agreed to merge in an all stock transaction valuing IHS Markit at $44 billion.

What is even more exciting is to see two deals that were deemed high risk and that had huge spreads appear to be close to the end zone with their spreads narrowing significantly in recent weeks. Google’s acquisition of Fitbit is expected to receive conditional EU approval and China Oceanwide’s acquisition of Genworth was reapproved by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in China.

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 last week.

Weekly Spread Changes:

The table below shows weekly spread changes between November 30, 2020, and December 4, 2020.

Symbol	Quote	Acquiring Company	Acquiring Company Quote	Current Spread	Last Week Spread	Spread Change Weekly	Deal Type
EV	65.59	Morgan Stanley (MS)	65	7.36%	1.48%	5.88%	Cash Plus Stock
DOYU	11.98	HUYA Inc. (HUYA)	19	15.78%	12.30%	3.48%	All Stock
GSUM	1.7	Gridsum Corporation (N/A)		17.65%	14.94%	2.71%	All Cash
CCR	4	CONSOL Energy Inc. (CEIX)	5.73	4.57%	1.88%	2.69%	All Stock
SOGO	8.65	Tencent Parties (N/A)		4.05%	1.58%	2.47%	All Cash
LINX	6.99	StoneCo Ltd. (STNE)	73.75	-10.59%	-7.68%	-2.91%	Special Conditions
EIDX	95.64	BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. (BBIO)	52.19	-23.40%	-18.60%	-4.80%	Special Conditions
TAT	0.2796	TAT Holdco LLC and TAT Merger Sub LLC (N/A)		-53.51%	-47.19%	-6.32%	All Cash
ALSK	3.76	Macquarie Capital and GCM Grosvenor (N/A)		-20.21%	-4.46%	-15.75%	All Cash
GNW	4.76	China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co., Ltd. (N/A)		14.08%	30.84%	-16.76%	All Cash

Deal Statistics:

Total Number of Deals Closed in 2020	127
Total Number of Deals Not Completed in 2020	16
Total Number of Pending Deals
Cash Deals	37
Stock Deals	18
Stock & Cash Deals	4
Special Conditions	3
Total Number of Pending Deals	62
Aggregate Deal Consideration	$887.81 billion

New Deals:

1. The merger of IHS Markit (INFO) and S&P Global (SPGI) for $44 billion in an all stock deal. Under the terms of the merger agreement, each share of IHS Markit common stock will be exchanged for a fixed ratio of 0.2838 shares of S&P Global common stock.
2. The acquisition of Collectors Universe (CLCT) by D1 Capital Partners and Cohen Private Ventures for $675.04 million or $75.25 per share in cash.
3. The acquisition of China Distance Education Holdings Limited (DL) by Champion Distance Education Investments Limited and China Distance Learning Investments Limited in a going-private transaction for $317.84 million or $9.80 per share in cash. We added DL as a potential deal to the Deals in the Works section on June 8, 2020, and the price after the news of the potential deal came out was $8.22.
4. The acquisition of Slack Technologies (WORK) by salesforce.com (CRM) for $27.7 billion in a cash plus stock deal. Under the terms of the agreement, Slack shareholders will receive $26.79 in cash and 0.0776 shares of Salesforce common stock for each Slack share. We added WORK as a potential deal to the Deals in the Works section on November 25, 2020, and the price after the news of the potential deal came out was $40.70.
5. The acquisition of Waddell & Reed Financial (WDR) by Macquarie Asset Management for $1.7 billion or $25.00 per share in cash.

Deal Updates:

1. On December 1, 2020, National General Holdings (NGHC) announced that, if all insurance regulatory approvals are obtained by the end of December 2020, the parties anticipate the transaction will close on or about January 4, 2021. If such insurance regulatory approvals are not obtained by such date, the transaction is expected to close in early 2021.
2. On December 3, 2020, Bridge Bancorp (BDGE) and Dime Community Bancshares (DCOM) jointly announced that at separate special meetings held today, each company’s shareholders approved the proposed merger of equals.
3. December 3, 2020: According to Bloomberg, Google (GOOG) is set to win conditional European Union approval for its takeover of Fitbit (FIT) this month. The deal could be approved as soon as next week after national competition authorities give their opinion.
4. On December 3, 2020, Parsley Energy (PE) announced that the special meeting of stockholders of Parsley Energy to approve the pending combination with Pioneer Natural Resources Company (PXD) is scheduled to take place on January 12, 2021.
5. On December 3, 2020, Telenav (TNAV) announced the expiration of the 30-day “go-shop” period under the terms of the previously announced definitive merger agreement.
6. On December 4, 2020, Alaska Communications Systems Group (ALSK) announced that the 30-day “go-shop” period set forth in the previously announced definitive agreement and plan of merger with affiliates of Macquarie Capital expired on December 3, 2020 and also announced that it has received two acquisition proposals: one from a third party at $3.15 per share, which the Board has determined constitutes a “Superior Proposal” as defined in the Macquarie/GCM Merger Agreement and one from a different third party and together with the Superior Proposal Bidder that the Board has determined would reasonably be expected to result in a Superior Proposal.

Closed Deals:

1. The acquisition of MobileIron (MOBL) by Ivanti on December 1, 2020. It took 64 days for this deal to be completed.
2. The acquisition of Hudson (HUD) by Dufry AG Group on December 1, 2020. It took 104 days for this deal to be completed.
3. The acquisition of BioSpecifics Technologies (BSTC) by Endo International (ENDP) on December 2, 2020. It took 44 days for this deal to be completed.

Top 10 deals with largest spreads:

Symbol	Announced Date	Acquiring Company	Closing Price	Last Price	Closing Date	Profit	Annualized Profit
GSUM	10/01/2020	Gridsum Corporation (N/A)	$2.00	$1.7	03/31/2021	17.65%	56.01%
DOYU	10/12/2020	HUYA Inc. (HUYA)	$13.87	$11.98	06/30/2021	15.78%	27.95%
GNW	10/23/2016	China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co., Ltd. (N/A)	$5.43	$4.76	12/31/2020	14.08%	205.50%
IPHI	10/29/2020	Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL)	$166.77	$150.02	12/31/2021	11.17%	10.45%
XLNX	10/27/2020	Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)	$162.07	$147.91	12/31/2021	9.57%	8.96%
EV	10/08/2020	Morgan Stanley (MS)	$70.41	$65.59	06/30/2021	7.36%	13.03%
FBSS	10/01/2020	Virginia National Bankshares Corporation (VABK)	$18.87	$17.58	06/30/2021	7.32%	12.96%
WLTW	03/09/2020	Aon plc (AON)	$228.53	$214.49	06/30/2021	6.54%	11.60%
CBMG	08/12/2020	CBMG management (N/A)	$19.75	$18.69	12/31/2020	5.67%	82.80%
MXIM	07/13/2020	Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI)	$90.70	$86.41	06/30/2021	4.97%	8.80%

List of all pending deals:

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

Disclaimer: I have a long position in Otelco (OTEL). 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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