Cisco’s $28 Billion Splunk Acquisition Strengthens Cybersecurity Amidst AI Expansion – Merger Arbitrage Mondays

Key Highlights

• Cisco (CSCO) to acquire  Splunk (SPLK) in a massive $28.45 billion deal for $157 per share in cash.
• UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) gave preliminary approval for Microsoft’s (MSFT) acquisition Activision Blizzard (ATVI). Spread contracts to just 1.13%.
• Desktop Metal’s (DM) acquisition by Stratasys (SSYS) faces lack of shareholder support.

Splunk Inc. (SPLK) $145.07

On September 21, 2023, Cisco (CSCO) and Splunk (SPLK) entered into a definitive agreement under which Cisco will acquire Splunk for $157 per share in cash, representing a premium of over 31% to Splunk’s share price the day before, and nearly 30% lower than Splunk’s record high share price of $223 in September of 2020.

We added Splunk as a potential deal to the Deals in the Works section on February 11, 2022, when the Wall Street Journal reported that Cisco had made a takeover offer worth more than $20 billion for the company. The price of Splunk after this news came out was $106.87.

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