Stock buyback activity remained muted for a second week in a row with just 7 new buyback announcements. The ODP Corporation (ODP) topped our list this week with a $600 million share buyback announcement representing around 35% of its market cap at announcement. ODP’s buyback includes the launch of a $300 million modified “Dutch auction” cash tender offer.
The other significant buyback announcements were by Unity Software (U) and M&T Bank Corporation (MTB), announcing $2.5 billion and $3 billion share repurchase plans respectively. 3D game engine developer Unity Software decided to acquire ironSource (IS) last week in a $4.4 billion all-stock deal at a significant 74% premium to the 30-day average price of ironSource before the deal was announced. The buyback will commence once the deal is completed and is expected to offset some of the dilution from this all-stock deal.