The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

RBGLY acquires MJN for $90/sh in cash:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/british-consumer-goods-company-reckitt-benckiser-to-buy-baby-food-maker-mead-johnson-for-16-6-billion-1486710559

Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC on Friday said it agreed to buy baby-food maker Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. for $16.6 billion, a deal that will almost double the size of the British company’s consumer-health business and help it push deeper into emerging markets.

The U.K. company, which owns Durex condoms and Scholl footcare, earlier this month disclosed that it was in talks with Mead after The Wall Street Journal reported on the potential deal. It will pay $90 a share in cash for the Glenview, Ill.-based company, which makes a range of nutritional products including Enfamil infant formula and the Sustagen milk supplement for children.

Including debt, the deal is valued at $17.9 billion.

The acquisition caps a yearslong search by Chief Executive Rakesh Kapoor, who lost out to Bayer AG in a bidding war for Merck & Co.’s consumer business in 2014, and has since been looking to do a big deal.

MJN was spun out from BMY in a 2009 tax-free exchange (#msg-44690350).