Seven agreements for US public company acquisitions with a deal value of $100 million or more were filed this past week. Three of the acquisitions are by financial buyers, including two private equity "club" deals, and two of the deals are bank consolidation deals. Several of the deals involve foreign buyers, including both PE club deals.

In the largest deal of the week and the largest LBO of the year (depending on one's characterization of the acquisition of Safeway, Inc.), on December 14, 2014, an investor consortium led by BC Partners, Inc. agreed to acquire PetSmart, Inc., a specialty retailer of pet products and services, in an all-cash transaction valued at $8.7 billion. The deal will be heavily leveraged, with $6.95 billion of the funds being raised with new debt financing.

Somewhat uniquely, the investor group includes some of BC Partners' own limited partners, including La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and affiliates of StepStone Group LP, who are investing directly in the deal. Also investing are affiliates of GIC Special Investments Pte Ltd (the private equity arm of Singapore's sovereign wealth fund) and Longview Asset Management, LLC, a current stockholder of PetSmart. Longview owns or manages approximately 9% of PetSmart common stock and is participating in the buyer group with respect to approximately one-third of its holdings, which it will roll over into the newly formed acquisition entity. The balance of its holdings will receive the $83.00/share cash merger consideration, and Longview entered into a voting agreement with respect to those holdings.

The deal is one example this week of an LBO prompted at least in part by the urging of shareholder activists. PetSmart had been under pressure to explore a sale by shareholders Jana Partners LLC and, later, Longview. On the same date as the PetSmart deal, an investor group of Thoma Bravo, LLC and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan agreed to acquire IT services provider Riverbed Technology, Inc. in an all-cash transaction valued at $3.6 billion. Riverbed had been the subject of two takeover bids earlier this year by shareholder Elliot Management, which Riverbed rejected. The per share merger consideration in the agreement with Thoma Bravo and OTPP is the same consideration that Elliot Management offered in its second bid for Riverbed, but Elliot Management has already indicated its approval for the deal.

Also this week:

For additional public merger agreement summaries, see What's Market.