Last week was as slow as it gets for public company M&A, with zero take-private transactions announced.
The initial public offering market is fairing little better, as volume is down nearly 80% year to date. 2021 was a record year for IPOs, with over 1,000 new listings (~60% of which were SPACs). The previous high water mark was set only a year earlier (~480 IPOs).
And the record before that? In the year 2000, when 400 IPOs hit the market amid the dot-com bubble.
Table of Contents:
Update on Developing M&A
Update on Shareholder Activism
Update on Other Special Situations
Update on Developing M&A
Strategic Alternatives & Ongoing Situations
Kohl’s (KSS) entered exclusive negotiations with Franchise Group (FRG) (Press Release)
State Street (STT) denied interest in buying Credit Suisse (CS) (Reuters)
Western Digital (WDC) announced review of strategic alternatives after Elliott's push to split (Press Release)
Zendesk (ZEN) completed its strategic review without a sale (Press Release)
Zymeworks (ZYME) adopted shareholder rights plan after All Blue Falcons’ proposal (Press Release)
Rumors
Axalta Coating (AXTA) reportedly subject of takeover interest from PPG Industries (PPG) (Seeking Alpha)
Dell (DELL) on the path to going private? (Seeking Alpha)
NCR (NCR) potential takeover seems still to be moving along (Seeking Alpha)
NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) gained on a report of a potential Samsung (SSNLF) takeover (Asian Tech Press)
Roku (ROKU) subject to speculation regarding an acquisition by Netflix (NFLX) (Business Insider)
Update on Shareholder Activism
Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJRD) feuding CEO and Chairman filed opposing shareholder presentations (Presentation: one, two)
Atento (ATTO) announced a cooperation agreement with Kyma Capital (Filing)
Cracker Barrell (CBRL) 9% owner Biglari Capital sent a letter to the board calling for a new CEO (Letter)
Hasbro (HAS) activist Alta Fox lost battle for board seats (Filing)
Hemisphere Media (HMTV) shareholder Edenbrook Capital says takeover price dramatically undervalues company (Filing)
New Relic (NEWR) activist JANA won two board seats (CNBC)
SpartanNash (SPTN) activists investors Macellum and Ancora lost bid for board seats (Filing)
Update on Other Special Situations
Spin-Offs
Encompass Health (EHC) released separate guidance ahead of Enhabit spin-off (Filing)
GSK (GSK) spin-off Haleon starts life with target on its back (Reuters)
Vodafone (VOD) preps spinoff of €900M IoT business (Light Reading)
Other
JetBlue (JBLU) submitted an improved proposal to acquire Spirit (SAVE) (Press Release)
Just Eat Takeway's (JTKWY) Grubhub business reportedly draws interest from Apollo (Bloomberg)
Walgreens Boots (WBA) nears a deal with Reliance and Apollo on Boots buyout (Economic Times)
If you enjoyed reading this Report, please do me the huge favor of simply pressing the “Like” button.
Just reply to this email to get in touch, or follow me on Twitter.
2 $ajrd ppts are fascinating stuff. esp. chairman's ppt, couldn't think of better material to get to know a company in-depth.