What happened
Shares of Pzena Investment Management (PZN +0.00%) had rocketed nearly 46% higher as of 10:07 a.m. ET today after the company announced that it plans to go private.
So what
Pzena will merge into a newly created subsidiary of its parent company in order to go private. Shareholders of Pzena Class A common stock will receive $9.60 per share in cash, representing a premium of 49% to the company's closing stock price on July 26, and a roughly 46% premium over the 90-calendar-day weighted average price.
"We are excited to begin this new chapter for our firm after 15 years as a public company," CEO Richard Pzena said in the announcement.
He added: "We believe the transaction is in the best interest of Pzena's Class A stockholders, and will enhance our ability to achieve investment excellence on behalf of our clients."
NYSE: PZN
Key Data Points
Since going public in late 2007, even after the huge jump today Pzena still trades down more than 52% all time, so this was clearly not a high-returning stock for shareholders.
Along with the announcement, Pzena also reported its second-quarter earnings results, including $0.15 in diluted earnings per share on total revenue of nearly $48.7 million. Assets under management at the end of the quarter were about $49.5 billion, down close to 7% from the first quarter of the year.
Pzena intends to maintain its quarterly dividend of $0.03 for the third quarter of the year. The company is expected to formally go private before the end of 2022.
Now what
I don't think there is a lot to analyze here. This is a fairly small company with suboptimal returns over its public life that is opting to go private.
