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Merger Arbitrage Mondays – Consolidation

  • February 22, 2021

Merger activity decreased last week with four new deals announced and four deals completed.

Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Oklahoma, Enable Midstream Partners (ENBL) owns, operates, and develops midstream energy infrastructure assets in the United States.  On February 17, 2021, ENBL agreed to be acquired by Energy Transfer (ET), a provider of energy-related services. With the acquisition of ENBL, Energy Transfer will be able to increase its footprint across multiple regions and provide increased connectivity for its natural gas and NGL transportation businesses.

On February 21, The Wall Street Journal reported that M&T Bank (MTB) is nearing a deal to buy People’s United Financial (PBCT) for more than $7 billion.

You can find all the active deals listed below in our Merger Arbitrage Tool (MAT) that automatically updates itself during market hours.

There were two new deals announced in the Deals in the Works section last week.

SPAC Arbitrage

There were 15 new SPAC IPOs, 41 potential SPAC IPOs filed last week and 8 new SPAC business combinations announced. You can find the new SPAC IPO announcements in our SPACs tool here.

  1. Owlet Baby Care Inc. and Sandbridge Acquisition Corporation (SBG) co-sponsored by affiliates of Sandbridge Capital and PIMCO private funds, have entered into a definitive merger agreement.
  2. Li-Cycle Corp., a commercial leader in lithium-ion battery resource recovery, and Peridot Acquisition Corp. (PDAC) announced their entry into a definitive business combination agreement that will result in Li-Cycle becoming a public company.
  3. Origin Materials, the world’s leading carbon negative materials company, and Artius Acquisition (AACQannounced a definitive agreement for a business combination that will result in Origin becoming a public company.
  4. Alpha Healthcare Acquisition (AHAC) announced the execution of a definitive business combination agreement along with a fully committed PIPE financing agreement with Humacyte, Inc.
  5. AEye, Inc., the global leader in active, high-performance LiDAR solutions, and CF Finance Acquisition Corp. III (CFACentered into a definitive merger agreement.
  6. BlackSky Holdings and Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp. (SFTW.Uentered into a definitive agreement for a business combination that would result in BlackSky becoming a publicly listed company.
  7. Quantum-Si Incorporated and HighCape Capital Acquisition Corp. (CAPAentered into a definitive business combination agreement.
  8. East Stone Acquisition Corporation (ESSC) and JHD Holdings entered into a definitive business combination agreement.

Weekly Spread Changes:

The table below shows weekly spread changes between February 12, 2021, and February 19, 2021.

SymbolQuoteAcquiring
Company
Acquiring
Company Quote
Current
Spread
Last Week
Spread
Spread Change
Weekly
Deal
Type
GNW3.28China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co., Ltd. (N/A)65.55%32.12%33.43%All Cash
NEOS1.01Aytu BioScience, Inc. (AYTU)8.07-13.07%-16.75%3.68%All Stock
PS21.05Vista Equity Partners (N/A)-3.75%-6.64%2.89%All Cash
BPFH14.3SVB Financial Group (SIVB)540.40.85%-1.53%2.38%Cash Plus Stock
DOYU16.37HUYA Inc. (HUYA)30.2434.85%32.62%2.23%All Stock
CKH43.32American Industrial Partners (N/A)-4.20%-2.21%-1.99%All Cash
SG12.49Third Point Reinsurance Ltd. (TPRE)10.08-23.94%-21.10%-2.84%Special Conditions
NEWA3.92Crouching Tiger Holding Limited (N/A)-6.89%-3.69%-3.20%All Cash
CLGX89.22Stone Point Capital and Insight Partners (N/A)-10.33%-2.43%-7.90%All Cash
APHA20.25Tilray, Inc. (TLRY)29.2120.89%43.48%-22.59%All Stock

Deal Statistics:

Total Number of Deals Closed in 202122
Total Number of Deals Not Completed in 20211
Total Number of Pending Deals
Cash Deals52
Stock Deals17
Stock & Cash Deals10
Special Conditions4
Total Number of Pending Deals83
Aggregate Deal Consideration$469.48 billion

New Deals:

  1. The acquisition of Tribune Publishing Company (TPCO) by Alden Golden Capital for $712.23 million or $17.25 per share in cash.
  2. The acquisition of Aegion Corporation (AEGN) by New Mountain Capital for $963 million or $26 per share in cash.
  3. The acquisition of Protective Insurance Corporation (PTVCB) by The Progressive Corporation (PGR) for $338 million or $23.30 per share in cash.
  4. The acquisition of Enable Midstream Partners (ENBL) by Energy Transfer (ET) for $7.2 billion in an all stock deal. Under the terms of the agreement, Enable common unitholders will receive 0.8595 ET common units for each Enable common unit.

Deal Updates:

  1. On February 12, 2021, The HSR Waiting Period applicable to the consummation of the Merger between Navistar International Corporation (NAV) and Traton SE expired.
  2. On February 16, 2021, CoStar Group issued announced its intention to acquire CoreLogic (CLGX), in a transaction in which CoreLogic stockholders would receive 0.1019 shares of newly issued CoStar Group common stock for each CoreLogic share.
  3. On February 16, 2021, Coherent (COHR) announced that its board of directors has determined to engage in discussions with II-VI Incorporated (IIVI) in response to its unsolicited proposal to acquire Coherent in a transaction where each share of Coherent common stock would be exchanged for $130.00 in cash and 1.3055 shares of II-VI common stock.
  4. On February 16, 2021, Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings (SPWH) announced that the special meeting of its stockholders will be held on March 23, 2020.
  5. February 16, 2021: Pursuant to the HSR Act, Slack Technologies (WORK) and Salesforce (CRM) each received a request for additional information and documentary material, often referred to as a “Second Request” from the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice.
  6. February 17, 2021: American Industrial Partners announced that it has extended until February 19, 2021 the expiration time for its previously announced cash tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of common stock of SEACOR Holdings (CKH).
  7. On February 17, 2021, Waddell & Reed Financial (WDR) announced that the special meeting of its stockholders will be held on March 23, 2020.
  8. February 17, 2021: According to Reuters, antitrust regulators will likely lengthen their investigation into Lockheed Martin Corp’s (LMT) proposed purchase of rocket maker Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings (AJRD).
  9. February 18, 2021: According to Reuters, Australia’s competition regulator raised initial concerns over Aon’s (AON) bid for Willis Towers Watson (WLTW).
  10. On February 18, 2021, ZAGG announced that its stockholders voted to adopt the previously announced definitive merger agreement in which ZAGG will be acquired by a buyer group led by Evercel. The proposed merger is expected to close on or around February 22, 2021.
  11. On February 19, 2021, EU antitrust regulators cleared with conditions Siemens Healthineers’ $16.4 billion acquisition of Varian Medical Systems (VAR).
  12. On February 19, 2021, Morgan Stanley (MS) and Eaton Vance (EV) announced that the companies currently expect to complete Morgan Stanley’s acquisition of Eaton Vance on March 1, 2021.

Closed Deals:

  1. The acquisition of Telenav (TNAV) by V99 on February 17, 2021. It took 106 days for this deal to be completed.
  2. The acquisition of Cellular Biomedicine Group (CBMG) by CBMG management on February 19, 2021. It took 191 days for this deal to be completed.

Top 10 deals with largest spreads:

SymbolAnnounced
Date
Acquiring
Company
Closing
Price
Last
Price
Closing
Date
ProfitAnnualized
Profit
GNW10/23/2016China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co., Ltd. (N/A)$5.43$3.2803/31/202165.55%629.61%
DOYU10/12/2020HUYA Inc. (HUYA)$22.08$16.3706/30/202134.85%98.61%
APHA12/16/2020Tilray, Inc. (TLRY)$24.48$20.2506/30/202120.89%59.12%
XLNX10/27/2020Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)$154.38$138.7112/31/202111.30%13.18%
CHNG01/06/2021UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH)$25.75$23.3912/31/202110.09%11.77%
WLTW03/09/2020Aon plc (AON)$246.61$224.9806/30/20219.61%27.20%
IPHI10/29/2020Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL)$186.54$170.5512/31/20219.38%10.93%
ALXN12/12/2020AstraZeneca (AZN)$167.47$155.5109/30/20217.69%12.70%
HCAP12/23/2020Portman Ridge Finance Corporation (PTMN)$8.57$806/30/20217.09%20.05%
AJRD12/20/2020Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT)$56.00$52.412/31/20216.87%8.01%

List of all pending deals:

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

Conclusion:

With four new deals announced last week, we are now at 29 new deals since the beginning of the year. In contrast there have been an astounding 161 SPAC IPOs in 2021. The cumulative size of these SPAC IPOs is approaching $44 billion this year. While this is well below the $84 billion worth of deals announced this year, as these new SPAC IPOs find operating companies to merge with, the amount of capital allocated to SPACs will start rivaling regular M&A activity and may even eclipse it in the coming months.

Disclaimer: I have long positions in Otelco (OTEL) and Zagg (ZAGG). 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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