Ali Holding Sweetens Offer For Welbilt

(RTTNews) - Italian food-service equipment maker Ali Holding S.r.l. on Monday sweetened its offer to acquire rival Welbilt Inc. (WBT) for $24.00 per share in cash.

The proposal represents a premium of 3.5% to the Welbilt closing share price on July 2, 2021, the last trading day prior to the July 5 proposal. It also represents a premium of around 11.4% to the implied value of the all-stock transaction with Middleby Corp. as of July 2, and a premium of 53.6% to the closing share price on April 20 the last trading day prior to announcement of the Middleby deal.

Ali Group said it has obtained financing commitments from Goldman Sachs and Mediobanca.

Ali Group's proposal also provides certainty of securing regulatory approval with the inclusion of a "hell or high water" provision, which requires Ali Group to take all actions necessary, including divestitures, to obtain all requisite antitrust approvals without undue delay.

Ali Group had previously offered $23 per share or $3.3 billion in cash for Welbilt. It outbid Middleby Corp., which previously had agreed to buy Welbilt for about $2.9 billion or 0.124 Middleby share for each Welbilt stock.

"Given the minimal product overlap between our two companies and the fact that our proposed transaction does not require an Ali Group stockholder vote, we believe our proposal offers far greater certainty of closing than the Middleby Transaction," the company said in a statement.