Qualcomm & Broadcom’s Potential $146 Billion Merger Continues Its Epic Saga

The past week was quite monumental within the mergers and acquisitions environment, where over a dozen multi-billion deals were announced, negotiated, or closed. Additionally, the Qualcomm and Broadcom mega-deal saga is still undergoing various developments such as price increases, licensing issues, regulatory compliance, and shareholder interests. Other billion-dollar deals included General Dynamic adding on another government IT business, Lennar becoming the largest U.S. homebuilder via a strategic add-on acquisition, Thoma Bravo acquiring a cloud-enabled data protection and security firm, TPG Capital acquiring an orthopedic device manufacturer, and a Goldman Sachs and Macquarie joint acquisition of an international logistics firm.

• This past Monday, General Dynamics agreed to purchase CSRA (NYSE: CSRA) for $6.8 billion to enhance its growing government IT services portfolio.

• On Monday, February 12th, Miami-based Lennar (NYSE: LEN) completed its approval to purchase competitor CalAtlantic Group (NYSE: CAA) for a total transaction value of $9.3 billion, including the assumption of $3.6 billion of debt. The new acquisition reestablishes Lennar's position as the largest U.S. homebuilder. 

• On Monday, February 12th, Thoma Bravo acquired Barracuda Networks for an all cash purchase price of $1.6 billion. The Ann Arbor-based data protection and cloud-enabled security firm protects the applications, data, and networks for more than 150,000 global customers. The firm has been an established market leader for IT professionals around the globe.

• On Wednesday, February 14th, Exactech, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXAC), completed its sale to TPG Capital for $737 million. The Gainesville, Florida-based developer and manufacturer of orthopedic devices and surgical instruments focuses its product efforts on the restoration of bones and joints that have deteriorated from injuries and degenerative diseases such as arthritis.

• At the end of last week, Broadcom had increased its most recent bid for Qualcomm by 17%, raising the overall purchase price to $146 billion. Identical to Qualcomm's previous rejection, the firm does not believe the proposed merger is in shareholder interest and further believes there are regulatory and licensing concerns. In a little over a month, Qualcomm will hold its annual meeting and shareholders will have a vote on the proposed merger. Additionally, the proposed merger would be significantly leveraged by over $100 billion in debt via the twelve-bank syndicate Broadcom has developed.

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• On Friday, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and Macquarie Group (ASX: MQG) agreed to purchase HES International for $3.04 billion. The international logistics firm is currently owned by Riverstone and the Carlyle Group. The firm provides transshipment, blending, and processing services of dry bulk and liquid bulk products at port terminal operations in various countries.