What happened
Gift card technology company Blackhawk Network Holdings (NASDAQ: HAWK) has agreed to be taken private by tech-focused private equity firm Silver Lake and investment fund P2 Capital Partners. The two acquirers have agreed to buy Blackhawk for $2.57 billion; including debt, the deal is worth about $3.5 billion.
The company provides gift card solutions at almost 250,000 retail locations and for more than 1,000 brands, and has grown into a leader in the space.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
The deal is expected to close in mid-2018, at which time Blackhawk shareholders would receive a cash payment of $45.25 for each share they own. This is a 24% premium to the stock's most recent closing price, and a 29.3% premium to the stock's average price over the last 90 days.
Now what
As with almost all transactions of this nature, the acquisition is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. However, you can generally gauge the deal's likeliness of going through by how close the stock price gets to the agreed-upon price.
Shares of Blackhawk are trading for $44.92 as of 12:30 p.m. EST on the day of the announcement, less than 1 percentage point away from the buyout price of $45.25. So it's reasonable to say that market is fairly certain that the deal will be completed and Blackhawk will become a private company.
