New On The Block

Intevac, Inc. (NASDAQ:IVAC), which manufactures technologies for applications like solar cells and hard disk drives, has undergone a makeover. With its old restructuring woes in the rearview mirror, the company’s forecasted EBITDA is looking a lot healthier — basically, it’s flexing its financial muscles. Now, investment bank Houlihan Lokey is putting out feelers to see what kind of strategic alternatives are out there, which basically means they're chatting with anyone who might want to ink a deal.

Updates From The Block

Hershey Trust Co., holding a hefty 80% of the voting power at The Hershey Co. (NYSE:HSY), recently told Mondelez International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) to try again after rejecting their preliminary bid, calling it “too low,” according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Mondelez is wrestling with skyrocketing cocoa and coffee prices, possibly using that stress as fuel for their merger plans. Cocoa prices have gone through the roof—up over three times in the past year, and there was a 20% leap between October and November alone. Blame it on bad weather in cocoa-growing regions, shrinking global inventories, and the usual supply chain drama. Even BofA Securities analyst Peter T. Galbo jumped in, noting that Hershey looks like a pretty tasty merger target amid all the cocoa chaos​.

Nippon Life Insurance wants to acquire all the shares it doesn’t already own in Resolution Life Group Holdings. The all-cash deal of $8.2 billion is the largest overseas acquisition ever by a Japanese insurer. It’s also only the second major deal Nippon Life has announced this year. It's clear that Japanese insurers, like Nippon Life, are on the lookout for opportunities abroad.

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Off The Block

Dow agreed to sell a 40% stake in its U.S. Gulf Coast infrastructure assets to a fund managed by Macquarie Asset Management for $2.4 billion. The new partnership, cheekily named Diamond Infrastructure Solutions, will act as a go-to provider of top-tier infrastructure services for Dow and other industrial clients in Texas and Louisiana.

Novolex, the packaging giant backed by Apollo Global Management, has sealed the deal to acquire Pactiv Evergreen. The price hovers around $3.22 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported that the price tag equates to about $18 per share in cash, which is a sweet 23% premium over the stock's closing price of $14.66 on Dec. 6. It's also about 32% above where Pactiv's stock was trading on Dec. 2, right before rumors started flying about Apollo sniffing around for a takeover.

Bankruptcy Block

The Onion's owners are upset with a bankruptcy judge for nixing their winning bid to buy Alex Jones‘ Infowars company. A federal bankruptcy judge declared last month's auction and The Onion's offer "flawed," citing issues like a lack of transparency and an uneven playing field, as well as the failure to maximize value for Jones' creditors. This decision came after Elon Musk stirred the pot. Jones vowed that even if Infowars gets shut down, he'll simply move his operations to his backup studios and keep broadcasting via satellites, stations, and of course, Musk’s X platform. Despite all the drama, the ruling was a rare victory for Jones, who's been battling legal claims from the families of victims from the Sandy Hook tragedy, which he defamed by calling it a hoax.

Notes From The Block

Fitch Ratings identified several sectors with ample dry powder and legroom for acquisitions. They include construction, aerospace, gaming and leisure, healthcare, banking, and tech. Benzinga narrowed down which companies, based on growth potential and brand recognition, will likely attract suitors in 2025. These are primarily mid-size firms with market caps between $5 and $12 billion.

• Dutch Bros Inc. (NYSE:BROS): This takeover target boasts expanding profits, minimal debt load, strong brand recognition, and potentially untapped markets in the coffee-crazed northeastern U.S.
• Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA): On Dec. 10, news broke that Sycamore Partners was exploring an acquisition of Walgreens, who intend to take the company private and potentially split up its divisions.
• Roku Inc. (NASDAQ:ROKU): ROKU's market cap is just under $12 billion, which is couch cushion cash for companies like Disney, Netflix, or Apple that could benefit from adding a hardware supplier
• Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:ZM): With a $26 billion market cap, Zoom needs a buyer with deep pockets like Google, Microsoft, or Apple, but the company has plenty of positive free cash flow and a sturdy balance sheet.

For more coverage, click here.

For last week’s Deal Dispatch, click here.

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