Cintas Publicly Offers $5.3B for UniFirst After Multiple Rejections

Uniform, cleaning, and services company Cintas (CTAS) revealed today an offer to acquire rival UniFirst (UNF) for $275 per share, representing a total value of $5.3 billion. The company announced this offer in a press release after being rejected by UniFirst two times over the last three years. Now it seeks support from UNF shareholders by making the offer public.

Cintas says the UniFirst Board of Directors refused to meet and discuss a potential deal between the two. That’s despite Cintas suggesting such meetings could help identify additional value that would increase its offer price. It also floated the idea of additional types of compensation in its offer.

Cintas president and CEO Todd Schneider called on the UniFirst board, its management team, and majority shareholders to “immediately engage with us to reach a mutually acceptable definitive agreement that delivers the full value of this combination for shareholders and other stakeholders.”

UNF Stock Soars on Cintas’ Offer

Investors in UniFirst appear receptive to Cintas’ offer with the company’s shares increasing 20.08% as of this writing. This comes with heavy trading as some 364,000 shares change hands versus a three-month daily average of about 83,000 shares. That extra movement likely comes from investors buying UNF stock ahead of a potential deal with Cintas.

CTAS stock is also rising alongside today’s news with its shares up 2.85%. That builds on its 31.31% increase over the last year. It’s trading volume today is still below its three-month daily average.

Is UNF Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?

Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for UniFirst is Hold based on three Hold and one Sell ratings over the last three months. With that comes an average price target of $186, a high of $199, and a low of $175. This represents a potential 8.51% downside for UNF shares.

See more UNF analyst ratings