Merger activity increased last week with eight new deals announced, four deals completed and one deal terminated. M&A and SPAC activity picked up once again last week. In a continuation of the trend we have seen all year, half of the deals announced last week were regional bank mergers. The largest deal announced last week was the acquisition of Covanta Holding Corporation (CVA) by EQT Infrastructure for $5.35 billion.
Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, Covanta provides energy from waste and industrial waste management services. Covanta’s facilities burn waste from municipalities and businesses and convert it into renewable electricity to power homes. The company generates 74% of its revenue from its waste to energy services. Last week, Covanta entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by EQT Infrastructure for $20.25 per share, representing approximately 37% premium to Covanta’s unaffected share price of $14.78 on June 8th, the day prior to initial media speculation of a transaction.
Another highlight from last week was Welbilt (WBT) terminating its previous deal with The Middleby Corporation and agreeing to be acquired by Ali Group after accepting its second higher offer. Ali Group paid Middleby a $110 million termination fee on Welbilt’s behalf.
We wrote the following about Welbilt in our Merger Arbitrage Mondays post on May 31st,
“The saga of bidding wars continued last week with Italy’s Ali Group bidding $3.3 billion for Welbilt (WBT) on Friday, representing a premium of 15.5% to Welbilt’s closing price on Thursday.