Deals this week: Chesapeake, Visa, KKR, Mondelēz and more

Deals announced worldwide in 2024 totaled $846.8 billion as of Sept. 25, up 14% from the year-earlier period, Dealogic data showed. Of that, U.S. M&A volume was down 8% to $338 billion, with stock gyrations, regulatory scrutiny and rates putting a dampener on activity.

However, companies that grabbed attention include Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:CHK), Visa (NYSE:V), KKR (NYSE:KKR), Mondelēz (NASDAQ:MDLZ), Lightspeed Commerce (NYSE:LSPD).

To begin with the commodities and energy market, TotalEnergies (TTE) has signed an agreement with Lewis Energy Group to acquire a 45% interest in dry gas-producing assets in the Eagle Ford basin in Texas, it said on Friday. This will further expand TotalEnergies’ natural gas production in the U.S.

Chesapeake Energy (CHK) and Southwestern Energy (SWN) announced that the HSR waiting period for their proposed $7.4B merger has expired. The companies expect to close the deal in the first week of October.

Avangrid (AGR) said Thursday its shareholders voted to approve the merger agreement with Iberdrola (OTCPK:IBDRY) (OTCPK:IBDSF), which will acquire the remaining 18.4% of Avangrid’s issued and outstanding stock it does not already own.

Allete’s (NYSE:ALE) planned $6.2 billion sale to a partnership led by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Global Infrastructure Partners was approved by China’s antitrust regulator.

Golar LNG (NASDAQ:GLNG) rose 2% amid some takeover speculation.

In healthcare, Patterson Companies (NASDAQ:PDCO) said it has signed two separate acquisition agreements for its Animal Health business.

SciSparc (NASDAQ:SPRC) has signed a non-binding letter of intent to sell its entire ownership interest in MitoCareX Bio.

Turning to finance, digital payments company Visa (V) said on Thursday that it is set to acquire the AI payments protection technology developer, Featurespace.

Global investment firm KKR (KKR) has agreed to sell GeoStabilization International, a provider of geohazard mitigation solutions and roadway safety services, to Leonard Green & Partners, L.P., delivering a return of five times the equity invested by KKR, it said on Thursday.

In another deal, a consortium comprising KKR (KKR) and the Skip Essential Infrastructure Fund will acquire a 74.25% stake in Queensland Airports Limited from The Infrastructure Fund, managed by Macquarie Asset Management, State Super, and Australian Retirement Trust.

Meanwhile, an investor in regional and community banks, Blue Hill Advisors, and the former Hawaii banking executive Allan Landon increased the cash takeover offer for Territorial Bancorp (NASDAQ:TBNK) to $12.50 per share from $12.00 per share.

SVB Financial Group (OTC:SIVBQ), the company that filed for bankruptcy after its Silicon Valley Bank unit collapsed in 2023, completed the sale of its investment platform business, SVB Capital, to affiliates of Pinegrove Capital Partners.

Evestnet (ENV) said Tuesday its shareholders approved the pending $4.5B acquisition of the company by Bain Capital.

In tech, Intel (INTC) has rebuffed Arm Holdings (ARM) after it showed interest in potentially acquiring its product division, with the troubled chipmaker insisting that the business is not for sale, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.

Telecom operator AT&T (NYSE:T) and joint-venture partner TPG Capital (NASDAQ:TPG) are reportedly closing on the merger of their DirecTV service with EchoStar’s (NASDAQ:SATS) Dish.

Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD) soared 13% after a report that the Canadian payments software firm is working with an adviser to explore options, including a possible sale.

Human resources software provider Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) was nearing a deal to buy payroll solutions company WorkForce Software for ~$1.2B, Bloomberg reported.

DigitalOcean (DOCN) edged higher by 2.7% amid a report that Cloudflare (NET) is speculated to be interested in a deal. Cloudflare fell 1.3%.

HP (NYSE:HPQ) has acquired Austin-based Vyopta, a provider of collaboration management solutions, offering analytics and monitoring for large, unified communications and collaboration (UC) networks.

Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) said Tuesday that it has agreed to buy Zoomin, a leading data management provider for unstructured data.

Among consumer deals, Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) rose 8% in after-hours trading after a report that French food catering firm Sodexo S.A. (OTCPK:SDXOF) is evaluating a possible bid for its U.S. rival.

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) confirmed that it received an unsolicited, non-binding proposal from Danone (OTCQX:DANOY) to purchase the shares it doesn’t already own for $25 a share in cash.

Mondelēz International (MDLZ) to acquire a significant majority stake in Evirth, a manufacturer of cakes and pastries in China, the company said on Friday, significantly expanding its investment in the category of frozen-to-chilled cakes and pastries.

Among SPAC deals, Breeze Holdings Acquisition (OTC:BRZHR) said it has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with YD Biopharma, as the latter looks to list on the Nasdaq Capital Market.