Deal Dispatch: Mars Nabs Kellanova, Honey Pot For Sale, Tata Buys Coastal

New On The Block

• That was fast. Compass Diversified bought Atlanta-based feminine care company The Honey Pot last year for $380 million. Now it’s looking to get rid of it. Raymond James is running the sale process, according to Reuters.

• Finastra Group Holdings Ltd., formed in 2017 from a merger of Misys Group and Canadian payments firm D+H, hired PJT Partners to auction its U.S. banking software unit, Bloomberg News reports. The division, which helps community banks and credit unions run core systems, handle payments, and manage customer accounts, could fetch over $200 million—and likely has private equity and rival software firms sharpening their pencils. Finastra, backed by Vista Equity Partners, is also looking to offload its international universal banking business, potentially worth more than $1.1 billion.

Updates From The Block

• Paramount Skydance Corp. (NASDAQ:PSKY) officially launched a hostile offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD) on Dec. 8. The bid, valued at $30 per share or approximately $108.4 billion, bypasses the Warner Bros. board to appeal directly to shareholders, challenging the company’s recent agreement to sell its studio and streaming assets to Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX). Some Warner Bros. shareholders are hoping an even higher bid will come along. But if it doesn’t, an increase in price due to anticipation of a deal could stall out around $31.25.

• Perimeter Solutions (NYSE:PRM) agreed to buy Medical Manufacturing Technologies, a Charlotte, N.C.-based provider of medical device manufacturing solutions, for $685 million. Arcline is the seller.

• Stripe has acqui-hired the team behind Valora, a digital wallet startup that raised $20 million from investors including a16z, Polychain Capital, and SV Angel. Valora CEO Jackie Bona said joining Stripe allows Valora to bring expertise in web3 and user-first experiences to a platform with unparalleled reach. The Valora app will return to cLabs, its original home, where it will continue development while the team focuses on contributing to Stripe's broader financial infrastructure initiatives.

• Sverica Capital Management announced the sale of its Fund V portfolio company, Coastal Cloud Holdings, to Tata Consultancy Services for $700 million. Founded in 2012, Coastal is one of the largest and fastest-growing Salesforce consultancies in the U.S. Guggenheim Securities advised the transaction; Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP handled legal matters.

• Iliad is still pursuing a potential consolidation deal in France's telecom sector after Altice rejected a €17 billion ($19.96 billion) joint bid from Free-Iliad, Orange, and Bouygues for most of Altice France's SFR assets. Iliad Deputy CEO Aude Durand told the WSJ that the offer still has potential, arguing that a shared takeover is the only way to avoid major antitrust issues given SFR's size. Analysts at Barclays and J.P. Morgan also see room for a revived deal as Altice remains under pressure to sell assets. Any transaction would face intense regulatory scrutiny amid broader EU debates over telecom consolidation.

Off The Block

• HNI Corporation (NYSE:HNI) closed its acquisition of Steelcase Inc. (NYSE:SCS), uniting two major office furniture companies. The combined company will have pro forma annual revenues of $5.8 billion. Steelcase shareholders will receive $7.20 in cash plus 0.2192 HNI shares per Steelcase share. HNI will keep its headquarters in Muscatine, Iowa, while Steelcase remains in Grand Rapids, Michigan. HNI's board has expanded from 10 to 12 members to include two independent Steelcase directors.

• Mars Inc. has finalized its $35.9 billion acquisition of snack maker Kellanova, adding brands such as Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, and Rice Krispies Treats to its portfolio, which already includes Snickers, M&M's, Twix, Kind, and Skittles. The deal, initially announced in August 2024, received a greenlight from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in June and all other regulatory approvals by Dec. 8.

• The Kellogg Co. spinoff will join Mars' snacking division while remaining based in Chicago. Kellanova's stock will cease trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The combined Mars Snacking unit is expected to generate about $36 billion in annual revenue, rivaling Nestlé and Mondelez. This acquisition marks Mars' largest deal since its $23 billion Wrigley purchase in 2008 and the biggest in the packaged foods sector since Kraft Heinz's $45 billion merger in 2015.

Bankruptcy Block

• Grand Slam Track (GST), the track league founded by U.S. Olympian Michael Johnson, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to The Athletic. The league, launched earlier this year with $30 million in funding and a $12.6 million prize pool, reportedly owes around $19 million to athletes, vendors, and operational costs. GST secured emergency funding in October, distributing $5.5 million—about half of what was owed—to athletes. The bankruptcy filing is intended to allow for a court-supervised reorganization. Despite the setback, GST insists the league is not finished and hopes to resume future meets once debts are settled.

For the previous edition of Deal Dispatch, click here.

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