S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a wrap-up of U.S. media and communications deal announcements and completions from Dec. 5 to Dec. 9.
* Microsoft Corp. on Dec. 8 completed its acquisition of LinkedIn Corp. in an all-cash deal worth about $26.4 billion. LinkedIn will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. At the effective time of the merger, each share of LinkedIn's class A common stock, par value 0.01 cent per share, and class B common stock, par value 0.01 cent per share was canceled and automatically converted into the right to receive cash equaling $196.00, without interest. This excluded shares of LinkedIn common stock held by Microsoft, by stockholders of LinkedIn who have properly exercised and perfected their appraisal rights under Delaware law and by LinkedIn as treasury stock.
* Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. completed the acquisition of Starz in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $4.4 billion. Under the terms of the transaction, each share of the previously existing Lions Gate common stock is now reclassified into 0.5 newly created voting share of Lions Gate and 0.5 newly created nonvoting share of Lions Gate. Holders of Starz series A common stock will receive $18.00 in cash along with 0.6784 share of Lions Gate class B nonvoting stock. Further, holders of Starz series B common stock will receive $7.26 in cash, 0.6321 share of Lions Gate class A voting stock and 0.6321 share of Lions Gate class B non-voting stock. Starz will now operate as a wholly owned unit of Lions Gate.
* Hearst Corp. completed its acquisition of software-as-a-service, or SaaS, company CAMP Systems International Inc. from private equity firm GTCR. CAMP provides SaaS solutions to manage and track the maintenance of jets, turbo prop aircraft and helicopters used in business aviation, along with enterprise information systems used to manage service centers.
* Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc. sold its Enterprise Services equipment and IT Services business to ePlus Inc. unit ePlus Technology inc. Under the deal, Consolidated Communications' enterprise services unit and ePlus, a provider of engineering-centric technology services, also agreed to sell the other party's products and services to their customers. Consolidated IT Services' customers will gain access to ePlus' entire range of managed and professional services, financing and lifecycle management tools, and national footprint of ePlus' integration and logistics facilities.
* Ziff Davis LLC, a digital media unit of j2 Global Inc., completed its planned acquisition of Everyday Health Inc. for $10.50 per share in cash. Through the acquisition of Everyday Health, Ziff Davis added a new vertical and set of health properties to its portfolios along with diversifying the company's audience mix. The two companies together generated $522 million in revenue over the past 12 months. The combined company reached more than 86 million individuals in September, with brands including Everyday Health, WhatToExpect, IGN, PCMag and Speedtest.
* Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc. struck a deal to buy FairPoint Communications Inc. in an all-stock merger transaction valued at about $1.5 billion, including debt. FairPoint shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 0.7300 share of Consolidated Communications' common stock for each share of FairPoint common stock, representing a premium of 17.3% to the 30-day average exchange ratio as of Dec. 2. After closing, Consolidated's shareholders will own about 71.3% of the pro forma combined company, while FairPoint's shareholders will own 28.7% of the combined company. The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies, is subject to standard closing conditions, including federal and state regulatory approvals and the approval of the companies' shareholders. The merger is expected to close by mid-2017.