10 biggest US mergers & acquisitions announced so far in 2019

We are almost half-way into this year and the M&A market has not disappointed. We have seen a few massive deals so far this year, and quite surprisingly, the financial services industry was a major participant.

Here are the top 10 biggest US acquisitions that were announced this year.  

10. Newmont Mining / Goldcorp

Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE: NEM) announced a merger with Canadian counterpart Goldcorp Inc on January 14 to form a combined entity named Newmont Goldcorp, which will be one of the world’s largest gold producers by output.  The merger was completed on April 18.

The deal, valued at around $10 billion, gave Newmont shareholders approx. 65% ownership of the combined company, while Goldcorp shareholders owned the rest.

9. Salesforce / Tableau

After losing LinkedIn to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) in 2016, Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) recently made another bold attempt to diversify its offering beyond the CRM platform by announcing the acquisition of data visualization company Tableau Software (NYSE: DATA).

Headquartered in Seattle, Tableau boasts of many big names among its clients including Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ). The all-stock deal was valued at around $15.7 billion.

8. Danaher / GE Biopharma   

The $21.4-billion deal with Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) happened at the right time for General Electric (NYSE: GE), which was struggling with its optimization strategies. GE plans to use the proceeds from the sale to reduce leverage and strengthen its balance sheet.

GE’s BioPharma business will be included within Danaher’s Life Sciences segment as a standalone entity. Danaher anticipates this business will deliver revenues of about $3.2 billion in 2019, with around 75% of these revenues considered recurring.

The BioPharma business, which is part of the GE Life Sciences division, delivered revenues of around $3 billion in 2018. 

7. Global Payments / Total System Services

Late last month, payment giant Global Payments Inc (NYSE: GPN) announced that it would acquire Total System Services (NYSE: TSS), a provider of credit card services, for $21.5 billion. The acquisition would create a payment technology behemoth with over 3.5 million merchants.

The new combined company, which is expected to generate approximately $8.6 billion in annual revenues, will see a 52% ownership by Global shareholders and the rest by Total System investors. The transaction will be completed in Q4 this year.  

6. Fiserv / First Data

In another major deal in the financial services industry, Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) said in January that it was acquiring payment solutions company First Data (NYSE: FDC) for $22 billion.  It is estimated that the all-stock deal will be accretive to earnings by about 20% in the first year and generate annual free cash flow of about $4 billion in the third year.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of the year.

5. FIS / Worldpay

In a $35-billion deal in March, fintech firm Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE: FIS) agreed to purchase payment processor Worldpay (NYSE: WP). The combined firm will have an estimated pro forma annual revenue of $12 billion.

Upon closing, FIS shareholders will own about 53% and Worldpay shareholders will own approximately 47% of the combined company. The transaction will close in the second half of this year.

4. Occidental / Anadarko

Last month, Texas-based petroleum firm Anadarko (NYSE: APC) agreed to a buyout offer by Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY), terminating a prior agreement with Chevron (NYSE: CVX) by paying a break-up fee of $1 billion. The transaction was valued at $57 billion, including the assumption of Anadarko’s debt.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2019.

3. BB&T/ SunTrust Banks

The merger between Global Payments and Total System may be seen as a rival deal to a much bigger one that happened a couple of months before that. BB&T Corporation (NYSE: BBT) and SunTrust Banks Inc. (NYSE: STI) agreed to join together in February, in an all-stock merger of equals valued at approx. $66 billion. The merger, which is arguably the largest bank merger since the financial crisis in 2008, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Approx. 57% of the combined company will be owned by BB&T shareholders and around 43% will be held by SunTrust shareholders. The combined entity will become the sixth largest bank in the US in terms of assets and deposits. 

2. United Technologies / Raytheon

Earlier this week, United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) and Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) said they were combining to form a company that would be valued at around $120 billion and would have annual sales of $74 billion. The merger would make it the second biggest aerospace and defense company, trailing only Boeing (NYSE: BA).

Upon completion of the all-stock merger, United Technologies shareowners will own approximately 57% and Raytheon shareowners will own approximately 43% of the combined company. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of next year, following the separation of its Otis and Carrier units by United Technologies.

1.  Bristol Myers Squibb / Celgene

The year started off great with the biggest announcement happening on the third day. On January 3,  Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) said it would acquire its peer Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) in a $74-billion cash-and-stock deal. 

In the combined entity, BMS shareholders will have 69% of the ownership and Celgene shareholders will have a 31% stake.

In February, one of the major shareholders of the company, Wellington Management, came out in opposition to the merger, citing the risks and expenses surrounding the deal. A month later, the deal got a new lease of life after proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services recommended Bristol-Myers shareholders to support it.

In April, the company said it received shareholder approval to go ahead with the deal, which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2019.  

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