Merger activity increased last week with five new deals announced and three deals completed. Two of the five new deals announced last week were potential deals in the work. The acquisition of Slack Technologies (WORK) by salesforce.com (CRM) was announced as a successful deal just five days after the potential deal was announced.
The largest deal of the year was announced last Monday. IHS Markit (INFO), formerly know as Information Handling Services was founded in 1959 by Richard O’Brien as a provider of product catalog databases on microfilm for aerospace engineers. The company provides critical information, analytics, and solutions to customers ranging from governments and multinational companies to smaller businesses and technical professionals. On November 30, 2020, S&P Global (SPGI) and IHS Markit (INFO) agreed to merge in an all stock transaction valuing IHS Markit at $44 billion.
What is even more exciting is to see two deals that were deemed high risk and that had huge spreads appear to be close to the end zone with their spreads narrowing significantly in recent weeks. Google’s acquisition of Fitbit is expected to receive conditional EU approval and China Oceanwide’s acquisition of Genworth was reapproved by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in China.
You can find all the active deals listed below in our Merger Arbitrage Tool (MAT) that automatically updates itself during market hours.
There was one new deal announced in the Deals in the Works section last week.