Capping off buying sprees of consumer products brands by both companies, Newell Rubbermaid said Monday it had agreed to acquire Jarden for more than $15 billion in cash and stock.
The deal creates a $16 billion consumer goods company, with brands including Paper Mate, Sharpie, Elmer’s, Rubbermaid, Graco, Lenox, Coleman, Sunbeam, and Yankee Candle, the companies said in a joint news release.
Jarden shareholders will receive receive cash and stock valued at about $60.03 a share — 24% higher than the closing price on the last trading day before media reports said merger talks had begun.
The stock was up about 1%, at $53.17, in trading Monday.
“The deal is a bet that Newell can gain efficiency and clout from Jarden’s more than 100 far-flung brands, including everything from Oster appliances and K2 skis to Yankee Candle,” Bloomberg said.
Both Atlanta-based Newell Rubbermaid and Miami-based Jarden have been scooping up consumer products brands, and investors have rewarded them, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“Their stock gains highlight investors’ appetite for deals in a torrid period for mergers and acquisitions,” the WSJ wrote, noting that the total dollar value of takeovers is at a record level this year.
Jarden has grown to include more than 120 brands, ranging from Crock-Pot cookers and Marmot athletic gear to Aerobed inflatable mattresses and Sunbeam irons, while Newell Rubbermaid has expanded through deals including pots-and-pans line Calphalon and Goody hair products.
Newell Rubbermaid holders would own about 55% of the combined company, to be named Newell Brands. After the deal is completed, expected in the second quarter of 2016, Polk would lead the firm.
Newell Rubbermaid said it expects roughly $500 million in annualized cost savings over four years and that the acquisition would immediately add to earnings.
“The scale of our combined businesses in key categories, channels and geographies creates a much broader canvas on which to leverage our advantaged set of brand development and commercial capabilities for accelerated growth and margin expansion,” said Michael B. Polk, Newell Rubbermaid president and chief executive.