Hot M&A Catch-Up: Kroger, Fox, Nutanix

By Sarina Isaacs

Investing.com - Amid a continued flurry of merger activity, here are the hottest pieces of M&A news from the past week, as covered on InvestingPro+.

Kroger (NYSE:KR), the second-largest grocer by market share in the U.S., announced it has agreed to buy Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) - the fourth largest - for $34.10 per share, or $24.6 billion. The purchase price reflects a premium of nearly 33% compared with the closing price of Albertsons stock on the day before the announcement. ACI shares closed over 11% higher on news about the potential deal, and were up 6.2% for the week. Kroger was off 0.8% for the week.

Kroger said the new company will have around $1 billion of annual synergies while the deal will be double-digit accretive to earnings by year four. Telsey Advisory Group said it likes the deal “as the combined company could be more productive and profitable than either of them individually, although we are concerned about the regulatory scrutiny and the approval process, and BMO said that “this could be a tough time to go into a higher leverage situation” given the current macro environment.

Independent oil company Denbury Resources Inc (NYSE:DEN) is in talks to be acquired by a strategic buyer and is working with investment bank JP Morgan in the negotiations, a source told StreetInsider. The talks may not lead to a definitive transaction, it was cautioned. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) is said to be weighing a takeover of Denbury.

Fox Corp (NASDAQ:FOXA) formed a special committee to begin exploring a potential combination with News Corporation.

Following media reports that Nutanix (NASDAQ:NTNX) is considering a sale, a Piper Sandler analyst said he believes that companies like IBM (NYSE:IBM), Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE), or a private equity company, could all bid for Nutanix. As far as the takeover price is concerned, Fish mentioned the range between $27 and $30 per share.

“Nutanix has opened governance policies in recent years to be more takeover-friendly, and we believe the management team and board are receptive to a potential takeover,” said the analyst. Shares of the cloud-computing company rose some 20% after a WSJ report on the matter.

Elon Musk is on track to close the Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) takeover, according to CNBC’s Faber.