ForgeRock to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $23.25 per share in cash
ForgeRock announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $23.25 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $2.3B.
The offer represents a premium of approximately 53% over ForgeRock’s closing share price on October 10, the last full trading day prior to the transaction announcement, and a premium of approximately 44% over the volume weighted average price of ForgeRock stock for the 30 days ending October 10.
The transaction, which was unanimously approved by the ForgeRock board of directors, is currently expected to close in the first half of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by ForgeRock’s shareholders and the receipt of required regulatory approvals.
ForgeRock, Inc. operates a digital identity platform to secure, manage, and govern the identities of customers, employees, partners, application programing interfaces (APIs), microservices, devices, and the Internet of things worldwide. It offers identity management products to automate onboarding/registration and progressive profiling, identity lifecycle and relationship management, identity provisioning and synchronization, user self-service, personalization, delegation, and privacy and consent management.
Upon completion of the transaction, ForgeRock’s common stock will no longer be publicly listed and ForgeRock will become a privately held company.
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
Pfizer to acquire Global Blood Therapeutics for $68.50 per share in cash
Pfizer (PFE) and Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) announced the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Pfizer will acquire GBT, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and delivery of life-changing treatments that provide hope to underserved patient communities, starting with sickle cell disease.
Under the terms of the transaction, Pfizer will acquire all the outstanding shares of GBT for $68.50 per share in cash, for a total enterprise value of approximately $5.4B, including debt and net of cash acquired.
The Boards of Directors of both companies have unanimously approved the transaction. Pfizer expects to finance the transaction with existing cash on hand.
The proposed transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals and approval by GBT’s stockholders.
Due to the proposed transaction, GBT will not hold its previously scheduled conference call to discuss its second quarter 2022 financial results. The company will file its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ending June 30, 2022 with the U.S. SEC announcing those results on August 8.
Global Blood Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery, development, and delivery of treatments for underserved patient communities with sickle cell disease (SCD). The company offers Oxbryta tablets, an oral, once-daily therapy for SCD.
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
The Federal Reserve said in today’s statement, “The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. With appropriate firming in the stance of monetary policy, the Committee expects inflation to return to its 2 percent objective and the labor market to remain strong. In support of these goals, the Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 3/4 to 1 percent and anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate.”
Federal Reserve to reduce Treasury, debt holdings on June 1 – The Federal Reserve said in today’s statement, “The Committee decided to begin reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities on June 1, as described in the Plans for Reducing the Size of the Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet that were issued in conjunction with this statement.”
Fed says inflation remains elevated, Ukraine impacts ‘highly uncertain’ – The Federal Reserve said in today’s statement, “Although overall economic activity edged down in the first quarter, household spending and business fixed investment remained strong. Job gains have been robust in recent months, and the unemployment rate has declined substantially. Inflation remains elevated, reflecting supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic, higher energy prices, and broader price pressures.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is causing tremendous human and economic hardship. The implications for the U.S. economy are highly uncertain. The invasion and related events are creating additional upward pressure on inflation and are likely to weigh on economic activity. In addition, COVID-related lockdowns in China are likely to exacerbate supply chain disruptions. The Committee is highly attentive to inflation risks.”
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
American Campus to be acquired by Blackstone for $65.47 per share in cash
American Campus Communities (ACC) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement under which Blackstone (BX) Core+ perpetual capital vehicles, primarily comprised of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, alongside Blackstone Property Partners, will acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of ACC for $65.47 per fully diluted share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $12.8B, including the assumption of debt.
American Campus Communities, Inc. is the largest owner, manager and developer of high-quality student housing communities in the United States. The company is a fully integrated, self-managed and self-administered equity real estate investment trust (REIT) with expertise in the design, finance, development, construction management and operational management of student housing properties.
The purchase price represents a premium of 22% to the 90-calendar day volume-weighted average share price ending April 18, a premium of 30% over the closing stock price of February 16, the date immediately prior to the company disclosing receipt of an indication of willingness to offer to acquire the company, and a 14% premium to yesterday’s closing price.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by ACC’s board of directors and the independent Special Committee of ACC’s board and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, subject to approval by ACC’s shareholders and other customary closing conditions.
As a condition to the transaction, ACC has agreed to suspend payment of its quarterly dividend, effective immediately.
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
Alta Fox urges Hasbro to address questions on Q1 earnings call
Alta Fox Capital Management, the beneficial owner of approximately 2.5% of the outstanding shares of Hasbro (HAS), urged the Company to address the following questions when it reports Q1 financial results tomorrow:
“Why has the Company pushed back the record date for the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders?
Given that the Board of Directors appears to be more focused on entrenchment than value creation, we are forced to question the motivation behind moving the record date to May 9th.
We fear the Board is hoping that the delay will provide time to court friendly shareholders, who are likely to support the incumbents.
In our view, this seemingly self-serving maneuver has parallels to the defensive PIPE transactions recently initiated by other underperforming companies facing election contests.
Why is the Company forcing a costly election contest instead of accepting a modest Board refresh and a capital allocation review committee in response to shareholders’ concerns regarding Hasbro’s chronic underperformance?
In our view, investors have reason to question whether the Board is acting in shareholders’ best interest or engaging in further entrenchment to maintain the Hassenfeld family’s influence.
Why did the Company expand its Board to 13 members instead of carrying out a viable director refresh?
We contend the decision to expand the Board from 11 members to 13 members following our nomination reflects an unacceptable level of dysfunction and entrenchment in the boardroom.
Why did the Company feel it was appropriate for Cynthia W. Williams, the newly appointed President of Wizards of the Coast, to join another public company’s board within two months of being appointed to her new role?
We question why Williams would want to join the board of Aterian, a company whose stock is down almost 70% from its IPO in 2019 and which has been accused of serious wrongdoings.
We find it surprising that Hasbro’s Board allowed Ms. Williams to dilute her attention so early in her tenure at Wizards of the Coast and was comfortable associating Hasbro’s senior leadership with Aterian.
Cynthia W. Williams
How did the Board determine so quickly that a spin-off of Wizards of the Coast was ill-advised, and why will it not share this analysis with shareholders?
We believe spinning off Wizards of the Coast could help enhance Hasbro’s corporate structure and unlock the full value of the division, which has a completely different growth, margin and valuation profile than the Consumer Products and Entertainment segments.
In light of the Board’s apparent credibility issues, we find it hard to believe the Company comprehensively and objectively evaluated strategic alternatives for the unit.
We believe shareholders deserve a detailed explanation of the Board’s purported evaluation, and that the analysis should be re-examined with shareholder-appointed directors focused on creating shareholder value rather than preserving the Hassenfeld family legacy.
To date, the Company has provided little evidence of business unit “synergies” that could not be accomplished through a partnership arrangement.
Why is the Board resistant to forming a capital allocation committee when investments, such as the Entertainment One deal, have been value destructive?
It is confounding to us that Hasbro continues to assume no accountability for poor capital allocation when organic and inorganic investments have failed to produce meaningful shareholder value over many years.”
Alta Fox has filed a preliminary proxy statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with its nomination of five candidates for election to the Company’s Board at this year’s Annual Meeting.
Hasbro reports on April 19th before the market open. HAS is down 2% to $83.47.
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
“Fortnite” maker Epic Games announced a $2B round of funding to advance the company’s vision to build the metaverse and support its continued growth.
This round includes investments from existing investor Sony Group Corporation (SONY) as well as KIRKBI, the family-owned holding and investment company behind The LEGO Group, with each party investing $1B respectively.
Epic continues to have only a single class of common stock outstanding and remains controlled by its CEO and founder, Tim Sweeney.
“As a creative entertainment company, we are thrilled to invest in Epic to deepen our relationship in the metaverse field, a space where creators and users share their time.” said Kenichiro Yoshida, Chairman, President and CEO, Sony Group Corporation.
Tim Sweeney, Epic’s CEO and Founder
“We are also confident that Epic’s expertise, including their powerful game engine, combined with Sony’s technologies, will accelerate our various efforts such as the development of new digital fan experiences in sports and our virtual production initiatives.”
Epic’s post-money equity valuation is $31.5B.
The closing of the investment is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. Other investors in Epic Games include Tencent (TCEHY), KKR (KKR), and Disney (DIS).
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
Crane plans to split into two independent public companies
Crane (CR) announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously approved a plan to pursue a separation into two independent, publicly-traded companies to optimize investment and capital allocation, accelerate growth, and unlock shareholder value.
Upon completion, Crane Co.’s shareholders will benefit from ownership in two focused and simplified businesses that are both leaders in their respective industries and well-positioned for continued success:
Crane Co. will be a leading global provider of mission-critical, highly engineered products and solutions, with differentiated technology, respected brands, and leadership positions in its markets.
After the separation, Crane Co. will include the Aerospace & Electronics and Process Flow Technologies businesses.
This year, these businesses are expected to generate approximately $1.9B in annual sales with a pre-corporate Adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 18.5%.
The company will be well-positioned to accelerate organic growth in its large and attractive end markets, benefit from favorable secular trends, and apply its proven processes to drive growth through new product development and commercial excellence.
Richard Teller Crane, Founder of Crane Co.
Crane Co. is expected to have a strong, well-capitalized balance sheet underpinning a capital deployment strategy focused on supporting the company’s organic and inorganic strategic growth objectives, while providing a dividend in-line with peers.
Crane Co. will be led by Max Mitchell, who will continue to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer, with Rich Maue continuing to serve as Chief Financial Officer.
The company intends to continue to be listed on the NYSE under its current ticker symbol, “CR”.
Crane NXT will be a premier Industrial Technology business with substantial global scale, a best-in-class margin profile, and strong free cash flow generation.
This year, the Payment and Merchandising Technologies business that will become Crane NXT is expected to achieve approximately $1.4 billion in sales with a pre-corporate Adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 28%.
In addition to its market leading brands, Crane NXT will differentiate itself through its technology leadership, positioning it to leverage long-term secular drivers including automation, security and productivity, across several high-growth adjacent markets.
After the separation, Crane NXT will be positioned to drive earnings growth through continued investment in the business and value-enhancing bolt-on acquisitions. Its balance sheet and strong free cash flow will also allow it to support a robust and differentiated level of capital return to shareholders that is expected to include a competitive dividend.
Crane NXT’s shares are expected to be listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “CXT”. A process is currently underway to identify Crane NXT’s chief executive, including evaluation of both internal and external candidates.
The executives currently leading Crane’s PMT business will continue to serve in senior positions with Crane NXT.
The separation is expected to occur through a tax-free distribution of the Aerospace & Electronics and Process Flow Technologies businesses to the Company’s shareholders.
Payment & Merchandising Technologies will be renamed Crane NXT concurrent with the separation, and the Aerospace & Electronics and Process Flow Technologies businesses will retain the Crane Co. name.
Upon completion of the separation, shareholders will own 100% of the equity in both of the publicly traded companies.
The separation is expected to be completed within approximately 12 months of this announcement, subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions and final approval of the separation by Crane Co.’s Board of Directors. Shareholder approval is not required.
Crane Co. will maintain its current capital deployment policies until the separation is completed.
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
Brookfield Business Partners enters partnership to acquire Nielsen in $16B deal
Brookfield Business Partners (BBU) announced it has entered into a partnership to acquire Nielsen Holdings plc (NLSN) in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $16B.
Nielsen Holdings operates as a measurement and data analytics company worldwide. The company provides viewership and listening data, and analytics principally to media publishers and marketers, and advertising agencies for television, computer, mobile, CTV, digital, and listening platforms.
The companies said, investment highlights include, “Market-leading position. Nielsen is a global leader in audience measurement and a trusted partner to its customers across the entire media ecosystem.
The Company has more than 50 years of statistically significant historical data and its scale is unmatched by competitors.
Nielsen’s measurement data underpins the $100+ billion video and audio advertising markets and its measurement data is the established industry standard by which video and audio advertising spend transacts. Resilient performance and outlook.
The Company’s history of consistent growth is driven by its valued offering and longstanding customer relationships.
Nielsen’s scale and existing market position should support the Company’s ability to consistently grow its measurement business.
Value creation potential. Nielsen is well positioned to be the leader in cross-media measurement as audience viewership behavior continues to evolve.
The development and adoption of Nielsen ONE, Nielsen’s cross-media measurement service, will deliver a unified measure of consumer viewership across all media and support the Company’s growth strategy.”
Brookfield will invest approximately $2.65B by way of preferred equity, convertible into 45% of Nielsen’s common equity. Brookfield will be actively involved in the Company’s governance.
Brookfield Business Partners expects to invest approximately $600M, and the balance of Brookfield’s investment will be funded from institutional partners.
Prior to or following closing, a portion of Brookfield Business Partners’ commitment may be syndicated to other institutional investors.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the second half of 2022.
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
Ancora pushes Everbridge for sale, sees over $70 per share takeout value
Everbridge, Inc. (EVBG) operates as a software company, providing enterprise software applications that automate and accelerate organizations operational response to critical events in the United States and internationally. The company has a market cap of around $1.6B.
Ancora Holdings Group, which owns approximately 4% of Everbridge’s outstanding common stock, issued an open letter to the company’s board.
It states in part: “We have spent a considerable amount of time reviewing Everbridge’s corporate governance, executive compensation, operations and sales, and overall strategy.
Given the immense destruction of shareholder value that has occurred under the current leadership team, we call on the Board of Directors to commence an immediate exploration of strategic alternatives.
We believe Everbridge is dramatically undervalued at current stock prices, and a sale to a well-capitalized acquirer could deliver more than $70 per share, or a more than 90% premium, for shareholders based on recent valuation multiples for both public and private company peers…
We believe Everbridge is a valuable strategic asset addressing a mission critical need in a large market with vast upside potential.
We believe Everbridge is dramatically undervalued at current share prices, representing an attractive acquisition target to both strategic and financial buyers.
In our view, the issues the Company is facing are not structural, but rather self-inflicted due to incompetent leadership that has failed to execute.”
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
B. Riley Financial proposes to acquire the retailer for $25.00 per share cash
In a letter to Lazydays CEO Robert DeVincenzi , Bryant Riley (RILY), Chairman, Co-CEO of B. Riley Financial stated, in part,
“This non-binding letter is intended to summarize the principal terms of a proposal by B. Riley Financial or a subsidiary thereof regarding its possible acquisition of Lazydays Holdings.
The possible acquisition of the outstanding capital stock of the company is referred to as the ‘Transaction’ and Buyer and the company are referred to collectively as the ‘Parties.’
As you know, we are one of the company’s largest investors holding over one million shares of common stock. First, we want to thank you for initially meeting with us in January and for taking the time to hear our thoughts on the company’s direction soon after the resignation of the company’s longtime CEO and Chairman.
We have also had constructive conversations with other board members. We acknowledge and support recent increases to the share buyback program, but note that the market continues to discount company’s ability to grow.
After significant analysis and diligence based on publicly available information, we have concluded that the company would be better served away from the glare of the public markets in an environment where the necessary investments in growth can be made without market fixation on short-term results.
We are proposing a take-private transaction at a healthy premium to the current share price. The purchase price would be $25.00 per share payable in cash.”
Lazydays Holdings, Inc. operates recreation vehicle (RV) dealerships under the Lazydays name in the United States. It provides RV sales, RV-repair and services, financing and insurance products, third-party protection plans, after-market parts and accessories, and RV camping facilities.
The company also operates the Lazydays RV resort at Tampa, Florida.
Lazydays Holdings, Inc. (LAZY) is up 22% to $21.90.
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
Mimecast discloses ‘non-binding expression of interest’ at $92.50 in go-shop
In a regulatory filing earlier, Mimecast (MIME) disclosed that it received, and rejected, a $92.50 per share proposal from a group identified in its proxy materials as “Portfolio Company A.”
The filing states: “On December 31, 2021, Portfolio Company A submitted to the Special Committee a non-binding expression of interest to acquire all outstanding ordinary shares of Mimecast at a price of $92.50 per share in cash, subject to completion of customary due diligence.
This expression of interest did not include the proposed quantum of debt and equity financing or copies of debt commitment letters or whether offers for debt commitments had been secured.
Portfolio Company A indicated that it was likely Portfolio Company A could pay a higher price following access to due diligence information… Immediately following the special joint meeting of the Special Committee and the Company Board held on January 6, 2022, representatives of Goodwin advised outside counsel to Portfolio Company A that the Company Board had determined that priority financial, legal and customer due diligence information would not be provided at such time and that consistent with the Special Committee’s position that had been conveyed on multiple occasions since November 2, 2021, Financial Sponsor A and Portfolio Company A needed to satisfy the Special Committee and its antitrust advisors that the antitrust risks for such a transaction would not subject Mimecast shareholders to substantial timing and execution risk due to expected scrutiny from antitrust regulators.
Counsel for Portfolio Company A did not share any additional information or analyses regarding the antitrust process for a transaction between Mimecast and Portfolio Company A or the timing and execution risk due to expected scrutiny from antitrust regulators.
Portfolio Company A also did not elect to submit any further or updated indication of interest or provide a markup of the antitrust-related provisions in the Permira Transaction Agreement (or clarify its position with respect thereto).
At 11:59 P.M. Eastern Time on January 6, 2021, the go-shop period set forth in the Transaction Agreement expired.”
Mimecast jumped 6% on December 7th after the cybersecurity company announced it was being acquired by private-equity firm Permira for $80 a share in cash or $5.8 billion.
That bidder, according to a report Bloomberg’s Ed Hammond, is Proofpoint, which was taken private last year by Thoma Bravo.
Mimecast Limited, a British company, provides cloud security and risk management services for corporate information and email.
This is how ProofPoint describes itself “Email, social media, and mobile devices are the tools of your trade—and for cyber criminals, the tools of attack. Proofpoint protects your people, data and brand against advanced threats and compliance risks.”
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
Walgreens to deploy Wing drone deliveries in Dallas-Fort Worth area
In a blog post by Alphabet’s (GOOG, GOOGL) Wing, the company said, ” Today we’re unveiling a new model for drone delivery that will allow us to expand into densely-populated metropolitan areas in the United States.
Wing will stage delivery drones at retail locations; ready to fly directly to customers.
The aircraft will arrive in small containers that serve as tiny hangars, allowing each store to quickly and easily deploy a small, dedicated fleet from its parking lot, on its roof, or in small spaces adjacent to the building.
When this model launches, Walgreens (WBA) will be the first U.S. retailer to use this new approach.
Walgreens team members will process orders and load packages onto the delivery drones, and Wing will oversee operation of the delivery service.
Our first lightweight, co-located operation will be set up at a Dallas-Fort Worth area Walgreens store in its parking lot, serving parts of the city of Frisco and town of Little Elm.
In addition to the Walgreens store, Wing has teamed up with Hillwood to prepare a separate drone delivery facility within Frisco Station, an urban, mixed-used development located in Frisco.
Hillwood has a long track record supporting forward-thinking, innovative transportation initiatives across the region, most notably at its Alliance Texas development and its designated Mobility Innovation Zone.
We look forward to working with Hillwood as we deploy a facility at Frisco Station that has all the usual delivery capabilities, but will be dedicated to exploring new use cases, community demonstrations, school field trips and public tours…
In preparation for this launch, we’ve been conducting test flights since June at Hillwood’s AllianceTexas Flight Test Center, a drone testing facility in Fort Worth.
We’ll begin a small number of practice flights next week in Frisco and Little Elm, and hope to set up delivery demonstrations to get feedback from the community in the coming weeks.
In the coming months, we expect to launch a commercial service there that would be the first of its kind in a major U.S. metro.”
Google Wing delivers a package
Wing is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. that develops technology of drone-based delivery of freight. The company completed their first real-world deliveries in 2014. The company has operations in Australia, the United States, and Finland.
In July 2018, Project Wing graduated from Google X to become an independent Alphabet company. As of January 2019, Wing began delivering take-out food and beverages out of its test facility in Bonython, Australia as part of a pilot program. In April 2019 Wing became the first drone delivery company to receive an Air operator’s certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration to allow it to operate as an airline in the USA.
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
Spectrum Brands agrees to sell Hardware & Home Improvement segment for $4.3B
Spectrum Brands Holdings (SPB) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its HHI segment to ASSA ABLOY (ASAZY) for $4.3B in cash, which it said represents over 14 times HHI’s expected FY21 Adjusted EBITDA.
Upon closing of the transaction, Spectrum Brands expects to receive approximately $3.5B in net proceeds, subject to final tax calculations and purchase price adjustments.
Spectrum Brands expects to use the proceeds from this transaction to repay debt and reduce its gross leverage ratio to approximately 2.5x times in the near term.
Excess proceeds are expected to be allocated to invest for organic growth, fund complementary acquisitions and return capital to shareholders.
The company expects to maintain its quarterly cash dividend of 42c per common share, which will be subject to the company’s continued review from time to time.
The sale of HHI is expected to close following the receipt of certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
The results of operations of HHI will be reported as discontinued operations beginning in the fourth quarter of 2021. David Maura, CEO of Spectrum Brands, said, “I am exceedingly proud of the fact that our Hardware & Home Improvement business nearly doubled its EBITDA under Spectrum Brands’ ownership.
I am pleased to know that HHI has found a new home with a great partner, and I am confident that ASSA ABLOY will take it to its highest potential, bringing great value and innovation to consumers for generations to come.
We believe this transaction demonstrates the tremendous value of Spectrum Brands as an owner and steward of our businesses and places the Company in a strong position for the future by allowing us to further reduce our leverage levels, and enhance our capital allocation strategy.
Our remaining business will be more focused, allowing us to prioritize innovation to accelerate organic growth and pursue synergistic acquisitions to further drive value creation in Global Pet Care and Home & Garden, while continuing to look for strategic and organic ways to enhance the value of Home and Personal Care.
After the closing, we will become a more pure play consumer staples company with higher growth rates and strong margins.”
The company added: “Spectrum Brands will be a simplified business consisting of three focused business units with leading market share, strong growth opportunities and consistent performance.
The pro forma business generated $3.0B in net sales and $386 million in Adjusted EBITDA representing a 13.0% margin for the LTM period ended July 4, 2021.
Spectrum Brands will report its fourth quarter 2021 results in mid-November and expects to provide Fiscal 2022 Earnings Framework at that time.”
ASSA ABLOY AB is a Swedish company that provides door opening products, solutions, and services for the institutional, commercial, and residential markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North and South America, Asia, and Oceania. In addition, the company offers entrance automation products, services, and components, such as automatic swing, sliding, and revolving doors; industrial doors; garage doors; high-performance doors; docking solutions; hangar doors; gate automation products; components for overhead sectional doors and sensors; and high security fencings and gates. The company provides its products primarily under the ASSA ABLOY, Yale, and HID brands.
Spectrum’s Hardware & Home Improvement segment offers hardware products under the National Hardware and FANAL brands; locksets and door hardware under the Kwikset, Weiser, Baldwin, EZSET, and Tell Manufacturing brands; and plumbing products under the Pfister brand. Its Home and Personal Care segment provides home appliances under the Black & Decker, Russell Hobbs, George Foreman, Toastmaster, Juiceman, Farberware, and Breadman brands; and personal care products under the Remington and LumaBella brands.
The company’s Global Pet Care segment provides rawhide chewing, dog and cat clean-up and food, training, health and grooming, small animal food and care, and rawhide-free products under the 8IN1 (8-in-1), Dingo, Nature’s Miracle, Wild Harvest, Littermaid, Jungle, Excel, FURminator, IAMS, Eukanuba, Healthy-Hide, DreamBone, SmartBones, ProSense, Perfect Coat, eCOTRITION, Birdola, and Digest-eeze brands.
ASAZY is down 38 cents to $15.53 per share while SPB is up $15 to $94.
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
The ECB said: “In its recent strategy review, the Governing Council agreed a symmetric inflation target of two per cent over the medium term.
The key ECB interest rates have been close to their lower bound for some time and the medium-term outlook for inflation is still well below the Governing Council’s target.
In these conditions, the Governing Council today revised its forward guidance on interest rates. It did so to underline its commitment to maintain a persistently accommodative monetary policy stance to meet its inflation target.
In support of its symmetric two per cent inflation target and in line with its monetary policy strategy, the Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until it sees inflation reaching two per cent well ahead of the end of its projection horizon and durably for the rest of the projection horizon, and it judges that realized progress in underlying inflation is sufficiently advanced to be consistent with inflation stabilizing at two per cent over the medium term.
This may also imply a transitory period in which inflation is moderately above target.
Having confirmed its June assessment of financing conditions and the inflation outlook, the Governing Council continues to expect purchases under the pandemic emergency purchase program – PEPP – over the current quarter to be conducted at a significantly higher pace than during the first months of the year…
The interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.50% respectively.”
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
Carlyle Aviation to acquire Fly Leasing for $17.05 per share
Fly Leasing (FLY) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of Carlyle Aviation Partners, the commercial aviation investment and servicing arm within The Carlyle Group’s (CG) $56B Global Credit platform.
Fly Leasing sold for $2.36B
Under the terms of the Merger Agreement, FLY shareholders will receive $17.05 per share in cash, representing a total equity valuation of approximately $520M.
The total enterprise value of the transaction is approximately $2.36B.
FLY’s portfolio of 84 aircraft and seven engines is on lease to 37 airlines in 22 countries.
The per share cash consideration represents a premium of approximately 29% to FLY’s closing price on March 26, 2021 and a 43% premium to the volume-weighted average share price during the last 30 trading days.
The Board of Directors of FLY has approved the Merger Agreement, acting upon the recommendation of a special committee appointed by the Board of Directors and consisting solely of independent and disinterested directors, and has recommended that FLY shareholders vote in favor of the transaction.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including applicable regulatory clearance and the approval of FLY’s shareholders.
Given the pending transaction, FLY will not host a first quarter earnings call.
This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility.
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