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, Caesar Entertainment invested more in sports betting by acquiring William Hill. Thoma Bravo gained real estate data analytics company RealPage. And Marvell Technology and Inphi Corp. merged under the Marvell name.
Caesars Entertainment receives its approval to buy William Hill
Caesars Entertainment was given approval through a U.K. court ruling to finalize its acquisition of London-based bookmaker William Hill. The deal, valued around $4 billion, was first announced last September.
William Hill operates a variety of gambiling platforms, including 1,400 retail outlets in England and online/mobile sports betting and online gaming. The company expanded into the US in 2012 with more than 150 locations across over 10 states.
Caesars Entertainment intends to sell off William Hill’s non-U.S. operations to focus on expanding its rapidly growing sports betting business.
In Britain, William Hill was forced to close more than 700 betting shops after new regulations limited the maximum stake on lucrative gaming machines.
Private-equity group Apollo also made a bid to acquire William Hill, but the board decided to go with the Caesars’ deal, with chairman William Hill calling it “the best option.”
Thoma Bravo adds RealPage to its portfolio
RealPage, Inc., a company that provides software and data analytics to the real estate industry, announced on Thursday that it has been acquired by private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo.
The deal, which was first announced last December, values RealPage at approximately $10.2 billion, including debt.
RealPage’s platform allows landlords to collect rent and receive maintenance requests from their tenants. It also collects information on leases to compile market reports and other forecasts.
The company made headlines in January when hackers stole $10.5 million from the company’s account, only $4.5 million of which was recovered.
RealPage shareholders were paid out $88.75 per share in cash, a 30.8% premium to the company’s closing share price of $67.83 on december 18th. With the completion of the acquisition, the company is now private, and RealPage’s stock is no longer listed.
Marvell Technology merges with Inphi Corp.
Marvell Technology Group Ltd., a producer of semiconductors and related technology, announced last Thursday that its shareholders voted to approve the previously announced merger of Inphi Corp.
The deal, valued at $10 billion, will result in a combined company under the Marvell name. Marvel announced that Inphi’s CEO Ford Tamer has been appointed to the Marvell board.
Inphi corporation has produced 10G-800G high-speed analog and mixed-signal semiconductor components and optical subsystems to networking original equipment manufacturers, optical modules, cloud and telecom service providers.
With the finalization of the merger, Marvell holders will own 83% of the combined company, and Inphi holders will own 17%.
In Other News
Other announcements worth paying attention to include:
- Lowe’s Companies Inc. announced on Wednesday it acquired Stainmaster carpet and flooring brand from its parent company Invista.
- GoodRx, Inc., a leading resource for healthcare savings, has expanded into consumer education by acquiring HealthiNation, a health video company that offers thousands of videos providing health information.
- Residential cooking and industrial process equipment company Middleby Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Welbilt, and its portfolio of commercial foodservice brands in an all-stock deal valued at $4.3 billion.
- Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc., a branded consumer products and home essentials company, announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire For Life Products, LLC, parent of Rejuvenate.
- Mastercard announced that it is acquiring identity verification solutions provider Ekata, Inc. for $850 million.
- Furniture brand Herman Miller, Inc. announced that it is acquiring furniture manufacturer Knoll Inc. in a cash and stock transaction valued at $1.8 billion.
- According to the Wall Street Journal, chat startup Discord Inc. has stopped talks to sell itself to potential suitors including Microsoft in favor of a potential initial public offering down the line.
- According to Business Insider, fast food restaurant franchise Subway is putting itself up for a potential sale.
