Shares of MarineMax (HZO) rose more than 24% on Monday after a Reuters report claimed that OneWater Marine Inc. (NASDAQ is in talks to acquire its larger rival.
Reuters, citing people with knowledge of the matter, said OneWater had made a cash offer of $40 a share for MarineMax. This follows months of private discussions.
Following the Reuters report, OneWater issued a statement saying: “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on market rumors or speculation.”
They added: “OneWater has a strong balance sheet and will continue to prioritize judicious capital allocation and maintaining appropriate levels of leverage while evaluating strategic opportunities, allowing us to ensure the viability of our business in the short, medium and long term.
“Management and the board of directors are extremely focused on preserving and enhancing shareholder value. They are fully aligned with shareholders as insiders collectively own a 17% stake in the company.”
If a deal were to be finalized, the combined company would be valued at approximately $2.5 billion, including debt.
Reuters added that a possible deal between the two boat dealers could be announced as soon as this month, although they warned that no final decision has been made and talks may fail.
HZO shares are up more than 25% to $35.63 at the time of writing.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
