M&A Weekly Recap: Express Scripts Scoops Up Medco, Great Wolf Bidding War

Monday

With the expected official approval by the FTC received, Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX) closes its $29.1 billion acquisition of Medco (NYSE:MHS). Express Scripts will retain its name, and will take three of Medco’s executives into its leadership ranks, but not its CEO David Snow. Walgreen’s (NYSE:WAG) contract with Medco will be honored, regardless of the company’s dispute with Express.

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Shares of Molycorp (NYSE:MCP) soar as Bloomberg opines that the company might be ripe for acquisition. One hedge fund manager predicts that Molycorp shares could bring $60, compared to the Friday close of $33.83. Possible shoppers for the company are thought to be BHP and Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO).

Defining Johnson Controls’ (NYSE:JCI) marine container and boiler business as a synergistic fit with its own marine retail solutions unit, Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR) buys the business for an undisclosed amount.

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) says its Board unanimously rejects Roche’s (RHHBY.PK) revised $51/share takeover offer, claiming the offer still undervalues ILMN and does not adequately reflect the company’s singular position in an industry poised for extraordinary growth.

Tuesday

In a deal that aims to expand its share in central and eastern European beer markets, Molson Coors (NYSE:TAP) acquires StarBev from CVC Capital for €2.65 billion ($3.5 billion). A company spokesperson remarks that the region has “strong historical trends and upside potential as the region returns to its pre-economic-crisis growth rates.”

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Is the Carl Icahn/CVR saga nearing its end? The ‘activist investor’ has been tendered 55 percent of CVR Energy’s (NYSE:CVI) outstanding stock by the refinery’s shareholders, which would give him a victory in his $2.26 billion battle for CVR. The apparent winner says that he will pay the money, “as soon as the board permits me to do so.”

Deutsche Bank’s (NYSE:DB) sale of its asset management unit to Guggenheim Partners is close to completion, according to Reuters. The price that the bank will receive is estimated to be €1.5 billion to -€1.6 billion ($2 billion to $2.13 billion), and it will also be rid of operations that must cope with new regulations, rising costs and growing competition.

Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) is apparently on a shopping binge, as it buys Celerity Solutions the day following its acquisition of Wyse Technology for approximately one billion dollars. Celerity is a provider of software and services for migrating mainframe applications to more modern server architectures. The current acquisitions fit the January prognostications of Michael Dell, who said that his company looks to buy others to augment Dell’s services, which constitute its growth engine.

Wednesday

Continuing its bid to acquire Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN), Roche (RHHBY.PK) sends letters to the latter’s shareholders, in which Roche says that its $51 a share bid “represents a significant premium to where Illumina would likely trade on a standalone basis and provides certainty of value through an all-cash payment to Illumina’s shareholders.”

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In a move in its campaign for a merger with American Airlines (AAMRQ.PK), US Airways (NYSE:LCC) is said to have promised certain creditors that such a link-up could bring $1.5 billion in synergies. However, it has been noted that US Airways’ efforts could make its quarry’s bankruptcy take longer, if they overly complicate matters.

Diabetes drug firm Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMLN) has rejected a $22/share bid from Bristol-Myers (NYSE:BMY), but on Tuesday Carl Icahn, Amylin’s biggest shareholder, urged the company to ‘pursue a sale process’. The investor activist calculates that Amylin could bring more than $22 a share with the right buyer, which would amass approximately $3.5 billion.

French utility concern GDF Suez (GDFZY.PK) offers $9.5 billion for a 30 percent investment in British International Power (IPRPY.PK), but is turned down. As a consequence, GDF says now that it might just walk away.

Big beer news – a merger between Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD) and SABMiller (SBMRF.PK) might still happen, according to a word from Societe Generale to its clients. Such an event could be the biggest deal ever for the industry, and the recent decision of BUD to not exercise its option to acquire StarBev before Molson could make an offer, seems to be igniting the latest rumor.

Thursday

FedEx (NYSE:FDX) grows its market share in Europe by snapping up Polish shipping company Opek Sp.z o.o. in a deal in which the price was not told. FedEx has opened 26 new European unit so far fiscal year 2012.

It just can’t help itself: Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) acquires its third tech company this week, by purchasing app modernization software provider Make Technologies. This deal follows the acquisitions of Wyse Technology and Celerity Solutions, and is scheduled for completion in its fiscal second quarter.

‘Our shoes cost less, and so does our company’, Payless Shoes parent Collective Brands (NYSE:PSS) seems to say as it prepares to have itself acquired at $20 to $22 a share, a price lower than any other U.S. retailer of apparel. Bloomberg remarks that the quote might be the highest price the company can get, as the range more than doubles the shares’ track record since the options review began in August. Regardless, prospective buyers would get a bargain: the company at a 62 percent discount to sales.

Shares of Great Wolf Resorts (NASDAQ:WOLF) up in early trading as the company is the center of a bidding competition. First, Apollo Global Management (NASDAQ:APO) offered $5 a share, and now KSL Capital Partners is bidding $6.25, which is at a 9.6 percent premium to Wednesday’s closing price.

A New England energy giant is in the making, as NStar (NYSE:NST) is granted final approval for its planned $5 billion linkup with Northeast Utilities (NYSE:NU). The Massachusetts Department of Utilities give the merger a thumbs up, clearing the way for the new company, which will serve 3.5 million gas and electric customers.

Does Delta (NYSE:DAL) want to go vertical by acquiring a refinery? Robert Campbell (Reuters) remarks that if the chatter is accurate, it would be “an amazing, and baffling, proposal…” Such a linkup would cause the carrier’s exposure to oil and fuel prices to worsen, besides the inconvenient fact that its management has no experience in the volatile sector that endures fierce rivalry and overcapacity issues. But other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?

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