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Here is your Pro Recap of 5 head-turning deal dispatches you may have missed last week: a temporary halt on Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal, likely approval of Broadcom/VMware deal, UK CMA’s approval of Amazon/iRobot, and merger deals at NASDAQ/Adenza and Patterson-UTI Energy/NexTier.
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Federal court temporarily halts Microsoft-Activision buyout
A federal court in California ruled in favor of a request from U.S. antitrust regulators to place a temporary block on the completion of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:) $69 billion merger with Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:).
The Federal Trade Commission has argued that the deal, the largest ever in the video games industry, would grant Microsoft the ability and a heightened incentive to restrict Activision’s content in ways that significantly reduce competition – a viewpoint that the two companies disagree with.
In early December, the FTC, responsible for enforcing antitrust law, had already approached an in-house administrative judge to block the transaction on antitrust grounds. Their contention was that it would grant Microsoft’s Xbox exclusive access to Activision games, leaving Nintendo consoles and Sony’s (NYSE:) PlayStation at a disadvantage.
Despite the news, Microsoft shares were up 5.5% for the week; Activision ticked up fractionally.
Broadcom/VMware $61B deal likely receives EU approval
VMware (NYSE:) and Broadcom (NASDAQ:) shares surged 4% and 6% last Monday after Reuters reported that Broadcom is likely to receive conditional approval from the EU antitrust authority for its planned purchase of VMware, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The approval from the European Commission is contingent upon Broadcom implementing measures to ensure interoperability with competitors, sources said.
Both Broadcom and the EU antitrust watchdog declined to provide any comments on the matter.
iRobot stock jumps 21% after UK CMA approves Amazon’s acquisition
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) approved Amazon’s (NASDAQ:) $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot (NASDAQ:), after which iRobot shares jumped more than 21% on Friday.
After an investigation, the CMA has determined that the deal does not raise competition concerns in the U.K. However, the acquisition is still under review by regulators in other jurisdictions. The U.S. FTC has requested documents from both companies to further assess the purpose and rationale of the deal. iRobot has stated that the companies will cooperate with the FTC investigation, which typically takes about a year.
Nasdaq agrees to buy Adenza for $10.5B
Nasdaq Inc. (NASDAQ:) said it inked a deal to acquire Adenza, which provides risk management and regulatory software to the financial services industry, from private equity giant Thoma Bravo.
The deal, will have Nasdaq pay $5.75B cash and 85.6 million common shares, or approximately $10.5B total. Nasdaq says the deal will help accelerate “Nasdaq’s strategic vision to become the trusted fabric of the world’s financial system.”
The stock part of the consideration represents approximately 14.9% of Nasdaq’s total outstanding shares, and will make Thoma Bravo a strategic shareholder of the company.
Shares of Nasdaq lost some 1.8% for the week.
Patterson-UTI to combine with NexTier in merger of equals
Patterson-UTI Energy (NASDAQ:) shares jumped more than 12% on Thursday following the announcement that it had entered into a merger agreement with NexTier Oilfield Solutions (NYSE:) to combine in an all-stock merger of equals.
Under the terms of the $5.4B deal, NexTier shareholders will receive 0.7520 shares of Patterson-UTI common stock for each share of NexTier common stock. Upon closing, Patterson-UTI shareholders will own 55% and NexTier shareholders will own 45% of the combined company.
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Peter Nurse contributed to this report.
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