20 Corporate Mega-Mergers of 2019

LVMH, one of the world’s largest luxury goods companies, agreed to buy Tiffany, one of the world’s most famous luxury brands. The acquisition gives LVMH, which is controlled by billionaire Bernard Arnault, a larger footprint in America. Like many brick-and-mortar retailers, Tiffany has struggled. Ownership of a larger parent may help boost the brand’s performance.

The buyout puts together puts together two of America’s largest gaming companies. It is a classic M&A move, which combines operations which are similar to one another, and then cutting duplicate costs. The marriage means that the new parent will control about 60 casinos in the U.S. The deal was announced June 24. Whether Caesars management wanted to deal the deal is a matter of opinion. Billionaire corporate raider took a large position in Caesars and pushed hard for a transaction.It is not the first time in M&A history when an outside shareholder has forced a deal, and it will not be the last.

On February 25, Danaher, a global science and tech company, which owns a number of life sciences operations, would buy the biopharma operations of GE’s Life Sciences division. GE has been downsizing and selling businesses under new management, turning in from the largest conglomerate in the world, to a collection of mostly niche businesses. To raise money for the deal, and gain government approval, Danaher will sell some of the GE businesses off. Unlike some M&A deals, Danaher expects the GE transaction to add to its earnings, almost immediately.

As the fintech industry continues to expand and evolve, Global Payments’ acquisition of Total System Services would position the amalgamated company favorably in this ever-changing marketplace. With this move, the two companies should be able to leverage each other’s global footprints, among other benefits. Zacks analysts believe that the highly complementary nature of these two companies allows for significant revenue growth.

Back in July, Fiserv finished its acquisition of First Data. With the deal now complete, Fiserv is one of the world’s largest payments and financial services technology providers. Current chairman and CEO, Jeff Yabuki, sees the focus of the newly combined fintech as “expanding technologies such as point-of-sale lending, helping merchants get their money fast,” and using data to make better decisions.