There were a couple of high-profile deals made (or proposed today), so let’s recap below. 💸
In honor of summer barbequing, we’ll start with Famous Dave’s parent company BBQ Holdings Inc., which rallied 46.46% on news that Montreal-based MTY Food Group Inc. is buying it out for $200 million. Shares of $MTY.CA were up 3.99% on the news. 🍖
Next, the mobile-technology company AppLovin offered to buy gaming software maker Unity in a $17.54 billion all-stock deal. The deal is significant because it potentially screws up Unity’s announced plan to acquire one of AppLovin’s smaller competitors, ironSource.
$APP shares fell 10.29%, $U gave back most of its gains (and more) in the after-hours session, and $IS fell 13% on the news. 🔻
Thirdly, Zales owner Signet is buying online jewelry brand Blue Nile in hopes that it will help it appeal to younger consumers and grow its bridal business. 💎
Signet also cut its financial forecast for the coming quarter and full year as macro headwinds put pressure on discretionary spending. However, despite weakness on the demand side, the company says its strong balance sheet allows it to be aggressive during the downturn to strengthen its business. $SIG shares were down 11.70% following this news. 📉
Another interesting aspect of this is that Blue Nile was taken private in 2016 by Bain Capital Private Equity and Bow Street for $500 million. Unfortunately, they were unable to offload the company via SPAC earlier this year, which would’ve valued it at $873 million. 😮
The all-cash deal happening at $360 million shows how a softening private and public market environment is impacting more industries than just tech. 🥶
And lastly, in late-day news, Shift and CarLotz have agreed to merge to form a leading omnichannel auto retailer. The combination will bring the best of both companies’ assets, and they anticipate having a cash position of ~$125 million after the merger.
So far, investors are cheering, with $SFT shares up 8.59% and $LOTZ shares up 28.98% after hours. 📈