USA News Group – Once again Elon Musk has sent shockwaves with a tweet. This time Musk announced a “best and final” all-cash offer to buy 100% of Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) for $43 billion, paying $54.20 per share which represents a 54% premium over the January 28 closing price. Immediately the social media giant’s shares soared 18%, over the speculation of the offer being accepted. After a recent drop to pre-pandemic levels, moves like this show how 2022 is set to return to the record hot M&A activity seen in 2021. Other ongoing takeover offers are the premium bid for energy tech developers Petroteq Energy, Inc. (OTC:PQEFF), a $2.7 billion bid for Australian telecom Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT), and GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE:GSK) offering $1.9 billion for Sierra Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRRA).
Unlike the hostile takeover proposed by Musk, clean technologies investment firm Viston United Swiss AG presented a friendly takeover bid for Petroteq Energy, Inc. (OTC:PQEFF), developers of the proprietary Clean Oil Recovery Technology (CORT), currently capable of capable of handling 5,000 barrels per day.
Ahead of the April 14th deadline, a growing number of prominent shareholders signalled their openness to tendering their shares, including unanimous intention to tender shares from the Board of Directors, the company’s Founder, Former Chairman and CEO Alex Blyumkin, and one of the company’s largest shareholders, Cantone Asset Management, LLC.
Blyumkin has also added that he intends to donate half of his personal profits from the deal towards humanitarian purposes in his home country.
“Over the past 10 years, I have put all my time, energy and fortune into developing an environmentally friendly technology for water-free and emission-free oil production,” said Blyumkin. “It is no coincidence that in this phase we received a takeover offer which, although I believe it is well below the potential value of the company, will provide certainty and immediate liquidity to the nearly 10,000 shareholders and open up new prospects for the company.”
Back in February, Petroteq announced a third-party cash flow analysis from Broadlands, which showed a base case of a Net Present Value (NPV) of $1.285 billion, $602 million, and $341 million, based on a pre-income tax basis, at discount rates of 0.0, 7.5 and 15%, respectively.
Broadlands noted that an extraction plant producing 5,000 bpd could (as estimated by Petroteq) be capable of yielding 6,000 tons of sand per day or 1,860,000 tons per year (based on 310 operating days per year and operating 24 hours per day), and that silica flour is postulated to be 15% of the saleable product, fracking quality sand 55%, and bulk sand 30%.
At C$0.74 (US$0.59) per common share, Viston’s offer gave Petroteq a valuation of 279% over the closing price of C$0.195 on the TSX-V August 6, 2021—the day prior to the Canadian exchange’s cease trade order began.
The price point also delivers a 1,032% premium over the TSX-V volume-weighted average price of $0.065 per common share for the 52-week period preceding April 15, 2021—the last trading day prior to the publication of the voluntary purchase offer in Germany.
For many months, shares of Petroteq on the Canadian Exchange have ceased trading. However, in the USA, investors can continue to trade shares under the OTC symbol PQEFF, in a form of merger arbitrage trading.
Shares of PQEFF continue to trading at ~US$0.38 as of the April 14, 2022. This means there’s still a near 55% premium left available for those who follow through offering their shares to the buyer through the official takeover offer website PetroTeqoffer.com.
Australian telecom giant Uniti Group Inc. (NASDAQ:UNIT) has agreed to a $2.7-billion takeover bid from Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (TSX:BAM) and fund manager Morrison & Co.
Shares of Uniti soared more than 50% since exclusive talks with Morrison began on March 15. Under the terms of the deal, Uniti shareholders are set to receive A$5.00 (US$3.71) per share, representing a 58.7% premium over the stock’s March 14th closing price.
Once completed, the deal would be the second-largest transaction involving a takeover of an Australian company in 2022, behind Blackstone Inc.’s (NYSE:BX) acquisition of Crown Resorts Ltd. It’s also the largest deal for an Australian infrastructure company in 2022 at a time when real-asset sectors are undergoing a wave of takeovers by pension and sovereign funds.
Shares of Sierra Oncology, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRRA) soared nearly 38% after agreeing to a $1.9 billion takeover bid from GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE:GSK), which continues to bolster its portfolio of new specialty medicines.
GSK will pay $55 per share, representing a 39% premium to Sierra’s April 12 closing price of $39.52.
"Sierra Oncology complements our commercial and medical expertise in haematology,” said Luke Miels, Chief Commercial Officer, GSK. “With this proposed acquisition, we have the opportunity to potentially bring meaningful new benefits to patients and further strengthen our portfolio of specialty medicines."
In a completely different direction, Elon Musk is making big claims for his intentions to fix Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) and unlock its “extraordinary potential”.
As per the offer, Musk is looking to take his position as the company’s largest shareholder from roughly 9% to 100%, by paying a 54% premium over the stock’s closing price on January 28th, and a 38% premium over the stock’s April 1 closing price—the last trading session prior to Musk’s initial investment went public.
“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk wrote in the filing. “However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”
The offer comes less than a week after the CEO of Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) turned down an opportunity to become a member of Twitter’s Board of Directors, which would also come with a maximum ownership cap of 14.9%.
“The offer to buy Twitter outright reflects Elon Musk’s distaste for orthodox board bureaucracy and what he sees as unnecessary regulatory hurdles,” said Daniel Clarke, Thematic Analyst at GlobalData. “The potential for growth and commercialization of the platform is huge. Perhaps most importantly, Twitter is the social media platform where political debate, business announcements, and popular culture intersect. It is the best place for a tech billionaire like Musk to curate his image.”
Article Source: https://usanewsgroup.com/2022/03/25/this-quick-turnaround-takeover-is-the-kind-of-play-smart-investors-snap-up-in-a-heartbeat
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