Merger activity increased last week with five new deals announced and four deals completed.
We added Momentive Global (MNTV) as a potential deal in the works on October 6, 2021, when Bloomberg reported that Activist investor Legion Partners Asset Management was calling for a strategic review including a potential sale of the company. Momentive’s price after this announcement was $20.61.
Momentive Global, formerly known as SurveyMonkey was founded in 1999. Dave Goldberg joined SurveyMonkey as CEO in 2009 and in the same year Spectrum Equity and Bain Capital acquired a majority interest in the company. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, California and operates as an experience management company, providing cloud-based software solutions to companies.
On October 28, 2021, Zendesk (ZEN) announced that it will acquire Momentive, including its iconic SurveyMonkey platform in an all stock deal. Zendesk stock fell 14% and Momentive fell 8% after this deal was announced. In its most recent quarter, Zendesk grew its earnings by 32% while Momentive grew its revenue by just 20%. Zendesk is also profitable, while Momentive has been posting losses. Zendesk investors are clearly not happy with this deal and the stock received multiple downgrades after the deal was announced. Shareholder approval is likely to be the key hurdle with this deal considering Momentive stock is now trading below where it was before the deal was announced.
You can find all the active deals listed below in our Merger Arbitrage Tool (MAT) that automatically updates itself during market hours.