In keeping with our mission to provide comprehensive advertising analysis, MediaRadar puts together a report of the most important mergers and acquisitions news each week. Stay in the loop, whether you sell advertising space or focus on business development.
This week, Analog Devices made the largest buyout in the chip production industry so far this year. Vulcan Material merged with U.S. Concrete and will expand its footprint in Texas areas. And Nexstar Media Group purchased The Hill.
ADI Analog Devices acquired chip producer Maxim Integrated Products
Semiconductor maker Analog Devices Inc. has completed its previously announced acquisition of rival chip producer Maxim Integrated Products Inc. in a deal valued around $21 billion.
The deal is the largest buyout in the industry this year and has been estimated to result in an $8.2 billion increase in revenue for Analog. Analog has operated primarily in producing chips for industrial and healthcare markets, while Maxim’s focus is in automotive and data center markets.
Finalization of the deal has been approved by Chinese antitrust regulators and is pending approval from regulators in the US and Europe. The two companies are confident the potential deal will be approved without forcing them to make any divestitures, given the overlap of their businesses.
Vulcan Materials Company merged with U.S. Concrete
Producer of construction aggregates, Vulcan Materials Company and supplier of aggregates and ready-mixed concrete, U.S. Concrete, Inc, have entered into a definitive merger agreement.
According to the terms, Vulcan will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of U.S. Concrete common stock for $74 per share in cash, reflecting a total equity value of $1.294 billion. So far this year, stock value for U.S. Concrete has risen 43%, while Vulcan Materials has grown 21%.
The deal enhances Vulcan’s position in key Texas growth areas while expanding its footprint in aggregates in Northeast markets like the New York and New Jersey metropolitan areas.
Nexstar Media Group bought The Hill
Political news outlet The Hill has been purchased by local television news mega-company Nexstar Media Group for $130 million.
According to Jimmy Finkelstein, who bought The Hill in 2014, the publication had increased profits by 50% year-over-year through a business model that relied primarily on advertising, in addition to direct, programming and licensing revenue.
The Hill reached an audience of 48 million monthly users and over 2 billion views last year. Nexstar is the largest operator of local TV stations in the US.
President and COO Tom Carter commented, “The Hill has a nationally recognized brand known for delivering balanced political reporting, as well as authentic opinions and perspectives, and is highly complementary to Nexstar’s national cable news network, NewsNation.”
Nextstar had positioned NewsNation as a just-the-facts news channel, but two top editors resigned amid staff complaints the company was pushing a right-wing spin.
In Other News
Other big announcements from this week remain pending:
- Axel Springer, the largest publishing house in Europe, is set to acquire Politico in a deal estimated at over $1 billion.
- Shiseido Americas is selling its cosmetics brands BareMinerals, Buxom, and Laura Mercier to Advent International.
- Comcast Business, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Masergy Communications, a software defined networking services company founded in 2000 and headquartered in Plano, Texas.
- Vox Media LLC, the owner of The Verge, Vox, and SB Nation, announced that it is acquiring Punch, an online magazine focused on cocktails.
- Pfizer Inc. announced that it is acquiring Trillium Therapeutics Inc., an immuno-oncology biotech company for an implied equity value of $2.26 billion.
- According to the Wall Street Journal, Western Digital Corp. is close to merging with Japan’s Kioxia Holdings Corp. in a $20 billion deal.
- Forbes Global Media, the publisher of Forbes magazine, announced that it is merging with a special purpose acquisition company, Magnum Opus Acquisition Limited, to become a publicly-traded company.
