McCormick combines with Unilever food units in $44.8bn deal

BY Fraser Tennant

US food company McCormick & Company has agreed to combine with most of the foods business of UK multinational Unilever in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately $44.8bn, creating one of the world’s largest flavour-focused consumer goods companies.

The transaction brings together McCormick’s spices, seasonings and condiments portfolio with Unilever’s well-known food brands, including Hellmann’s and Knorr, in a move designed to establish a global ingredients and flavour powerhouse with annual revenues of around $20bn.

Under the terms of the agreement, Unilever shareholders will own 55.1 percent of the combined company through their equity distribution, while McCormick shareholders will hold 35 percent. Unilever Plc will retain a direct 9.9 percent ownership stake, which it has said it intends to sell down gradually over time. McCormick will also pay $15.7bn in cash to Unilever as part of the deal.

The combination is structured as a Reverse Morris Trust, allowing Unilever to separate its foods business in a tax-efficient manner while sharpening its focus on faster-growing beauty, wellbeing, personal care and home care categories. The deal excludes Unilever’s food operations in India and certain smaller markets.

Bringing together two industry-leading organisations with complementary global footprints, the combined company is expected to benefit from expanded international reach, greater scale across retail and foodservice channels, and increased capacity to invest in innovation, marketing and distribution. The companies forecast annual run-rate cost synergies of approximately $600m by the third year following completion.

Unilever products are sold in more than 190 countries and are used by around 3.7 billion people each day. Following recent portfolio changes, including the spin-off of its ice cream business, Unilever reported sales of €50.5bn in 2025 and employed approximately 96,000 people.

“Unilever’s foods business is one we have long admired, with a portfolio that complements our existing business, capabilities and long-term vision,” said Brendan Foley, chairman, president and chief executive of McCormick. “Together, we will be better positioned to accelerate growth in attractive categories. This combination will create a diversified flavour leader with a robust growth profile that remains differentiated by its focus on flavoring calories while others compete for them.”

McCormick generates around $7bn in annual sales across more than 150 countries and territories, supplying herbs, spices, seasonings, condiments and flavour solutions to retailers, food manufacturers and foodservice customers worldwide. The acquisition marks the largest deal in the company’s history and a significant expansion beyond its traditional spice-focused core.

“This is a combination built on strong strategic and cultural alignment, providing exciting opportunities for our people and ensuring our Foods brands continue to thrive as part of a global flavour leader,” said Fernando Fernández, chief executive of Unilever. “Our retained ownership stake reflects our conviction in the strength of the combined company and its future prospects.”

Following completion, McCormick will remain headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, with an additional international headquarters established in the Netherlands, reflecting Unilever Foods’ historic base. The combined group will also seek a secondary stock market listing in Europe.

The transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to close by mid-2027, subject to shareholder approval, regulatory clearances and customary closing conditions.

Mr Foley concluded: “Integrating two global organizations of this scale requires disciplined execution, and we are confident that our detailed integration roadmap, experienced teams from McCormick and Unilever, external advisers and our strong partnership will enable us to capture the full value of this opportunity.”

News: Unilever and McCormick agree to food business deal

Jetro Restaurant Depot sold for $29bn

BY Richard Summerfield

US food supplier Sysco has agreed to acquire Jetro Restaurant Depot in a transaction valued at approximately $29.1bn in cash and stock.

Under the terms of the deal, Jetro shareholders will receive $21.6bn in cash and 91.5 million shares of Sysco stock. The total value of the deal represents a multiple of 14.6 times Jetro’s operating income.

Jetro is a leading source of products for mostly independent restaurants and other businesses. It operates 166 large-format warehouse stores in 35 US states that generate $16bn in annual revenue, including $2.1bn in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation. The deal is expected to close by ​the third quarter of Sysco’s fiscal 2027.

According to a statement announcing the deal, Sysco plans to fund the cash in the deal with $21bn in new debt and $1bn in cash on hand. Once the deal is complete, Jetro shareholders will own about 16 percent of Sysco stock.

“Together, Sysco and Jetro Restaurant Depot will enhance value for small independent restaurants and the consumers they serve by expanding access to more affordable, fresh food products and delivering more choice and convenience,” said Kevin Hourican, chair of the board and chief executive of Sysco. “Jetro Restaurant Depot will benefit from access to Sysco’s best-in-class foodservice supply chain and logistics capabilities and Sysco will benefit from new ways to serve local customers. The combined company will have increased purchasing efficiencies, enabling lower prices for more customers.

“Even more importantly, we see a long runway of opening new Jetro Restaurant Depot warehouses, bringing the industry leader in affordability to hundreds of new communities and creating thousands of new jobs. This will allow us to create significant value for our company, our customers, and our shareholders,” he added.

“Today’s announcement is an exciting moment for Jetro Restaurant Depot and a clear recognition of the strength of our business model, and the teams who have built it over the past 50 years,” said Stanley Fleishman, executive chairman of Jetro Restaurant Depot. “From the start, our focus has been simple and straightforward, in line with the vision of our founder, Nathan Kirsh: to support independent shopkeepers, restaurant owners, and people running independent food businesses who depend on one-stop food service shopping at low prices seven, days a week.

“Sysco is the best possible partner for our next chapter because they share our growth mindset and bring the systems and national and international supply logistic capabilities to help us grow across the U.S. and beyond,” he added. “We are extremely excited to be able to offer our full range of low-cost, high-quality, dry and perishable foodservice products to more customers in more markets. We look forward to increasing opportunities for our team, all while staying focused on supporting independent foodservice businesses and the families who run them.”

News: Top US food supplier Sysco strikes $29 billion deal for Jetro Restaurant Depot

Ouro Medicines sold to Gilead Sciences for $2.18bn

BY Richard Summerfield

Gilead Sciences has agreed to acquire biotech firm ​Ouro ​Medicines in ‌a ⁠deal worth ​up ​to $2.18bn. The deal will see Gilead bolster its cell therapy pipeline by acquiring a company focused on developing T cell engager therapies for autoimmune diseases.

Under the terms of the deal, Gilead will acquire all of the outstanding equity of Ouro Medicines, just less than $1.7bn in cash when the deal closes, and a further $500m once certain clinical trial milestones are hit. Closing of the transaction is subject to expiration or termination of certain regulatory filings and other customary conditions.

The deal is Gilead’s second biotech acquisition in around a month following its $7.8bn takeover of Arcellx. It also represents Gilead’s latest push to diversify away from its mainstay of HIV and cancer medicines by adding a novel treatment with huge potential to treat autoimmune diseases.

“This acquisition underscores our commitment to advancing transformative therapies for people living with serious autoimmune diseases,” said Dietmar Berger, chief medical officer of Gilead. “BCMA is a validated target with emerging data demonstrating potentially transformative outcomes in autoimmune diseases. BCMA targeted T cell engagers represent a differentiated approach with the potential to induce durable disease control. This novel framework complements our expanding inflammation pipeline and reflects our strategy to invest in innovative science that may redefine standards of care.”

Ouro, which was launched last January by GSK and Monograph Capital with $120m in funding, is developing gamgertamig (OM336), a BCMA/CD3-targeting bispecific T cell engager, for ex-China markets. It licensed the asset from Keymed Biosciences for $16m upfront. The US Food and Drug Administration has granted OM336 both ‘fast track’ and ‘orphan drug designation’ for these indications. Registrational studies are expected to begin in 2027.

“From the outset, we saw the potential for gamgertamig to redefine the standard of care for immune-mediated diseases,” said Jaideep Dudani, co-founder and chief executive of Ouro Medicines. “Since then, we’ve taken meaningful steps to advance that vision, with multiple trials now underway. With support from Gilead and Galapagos, we can build on the strong early foundation – leveraging a proven track record in late stage development, launch, and commercialization to accelerate our programs and help deliver on the promise gamgertamig holds for patients with immune-mediated diseases, following our initial collaboration with Keymed Biosciences.”

As part of the deal, Gilead is in discussions with biotech company Galapagos for a potential research and development collaboration on the Ouro portfolio. Under the potential arrangement, Galapagos would cover development costs until registrational studies, retain Ouro’s employees and co-develop OM336 with Gilead. Gilead would maintain worldwide commercialisation rights, excluding Greater China, where Keymed Biosciences holds rights, and would pay Galapagos royalties on net sales.

The deal is the latest notable transaction in the biotech dealmaking space, which has seen significant activity in recent months. The wider pharmaceutical industry is contending with hundreds of billions of dollars of medicines coming off patents over the next few years, which has helped drive activity.

Gilead has been particularly active in the dealmaking space. Since Daniel O’Day, the company’s current chief executive, took control, Gilead has largely focused its dealmaking strategy on acquisitions that boost its oncology portfolio, including its $21bn purchase of Immunomedics in 2020 and $4.3bn takeover of CymaBay Therapeutics in 2024.

News: Gilead to buy biotech firm Ouro Medicines in over $2 billion deal

Ecolab acquires CoolIT Systems in $4.75bn deal

BY Fraser Tennant

In one of the largest-ever Canadian tech takeovers, water treatment solutions company Ecolab is to acquire data centre cooling specialist CoolIT Systems for $4.75bn in cash.

The acquisition accelerates Ecolab’s sales growth by significantly expanding its global high-tech growth engine from $5bn to $10bn, creating an end to end fluid management and cooling platform for artificial intelligence (AI) data centres.

The deal has been agreed amid a broader trend of industry consolidation driven by high demand for data centre infrastructure, with companies seeking to expand their capabilities to address growing requirements for power and specialised cooling solutions.

“AI is transforming the demands on data centres,” said Christophe Beck, chairman and chief executive of Ecolab. “And one of the critical technologies that makes advanced computing possible is liquid cooling.”

By combining CoolIT’s anchor thermal engineering technologies and design excellence with Ecolab’s expertise in water, chemistry, fluid management, digital monitoring and global service, Ecolab is bolstering its cooling as a service offering – a solution that helps AI data centres improve performance, reduce downtime and lower water use across their operations.

“This acquisition expands our role in serving the AI ecosystem – semiconductor fabrication plants that manufacture chips, power plants that fuel the chips and data centres that utilise the chips – and positions Ecolab as the partner that the world’s largest technology companies rely on to grow responsibly and sustainably,” added Mr Beck.

With 48,000 associates and customers across more than 170 countries and 40 industries, Ecolab helps protect one‑third of the world’s food production and a quarter of the power generated while delivering innovative solutions across food, healthcare, data centres, microelectronics, life sciences and hospitality.

Owned by funds managed by global investment firm KKR, Calgary-based CoolIT ⁠designs and manufactures liquid cooling systems used by hyperscale and colocation operators. Its customers include chipmakers such as Nvidia ​and Advanced ​Micro Devices. With more than 25 years of experience, CoolIT’s technology helps the world’s largest hyperscale and colocation operators run more efficiently and reliably.

The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Mr Beck concluded: “Bringing together CoolIT’s engineered cooling technologies with Ecolab’s expertise in water, chemistry and digital service provides our customers with a complete cooling solution that improves performance and reliability, while reducing water and energy use.”

News: Ecolab to buy CoolIT for $4.75 billion to tap into AI data center boom

PSA acquires NSA in $10.5bn deal

BY Fraser Tennant

In a move that creates a massive self-storage entity, self-storage company Public Storage (PSA) is to acquire its smaller rival National Storage Affiliates (NSA) in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $10.5bn.

Under the terms of the agreement, holders of NSA common shares and operating partnership units will receive 0.14 of a share of PSA common stock or partnership units for each NSA share or unit they own, representing a total consideration of $41.68 per share based on PSA’s closing share price on 13 March 2026.

The acquisition of NSA is fuelled by PS Next, PSA’s next-generation operating model, and aided by the combination of PSA’s scaled omnichannel digital-first platform, advanced data science and exceptional talent to improve the financial profile of NSA’s assets.

The combined company is expected to have a pro forma equity market capitalisation of approximately $57bn and total enterprise value of approximately $77bn.

“This transaction will enable us to strategically and accretively expand our platform with assets that are highly complementary with our portfolio, deepen our significant market presence and enhance our long-term per share growth profile,” said Tom Boyle, incoming chief executive of PSA. “We look forward to welcoming NSA’s team and customers to our industry-leading platform.”

A real estate investment trust headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado, NSA is one of the largest owners and operators of self-storage properties among public and private companies in the US. Its portfolio includes more than 1000 properties, 69 million rentable square feet, and 550,000 units across 37 states and Puerto Rico.

“This outcome reflects the incredible transformation we have undertaken over the past few years to refocus our portfolio, enhance operations and drive growth,” said David Cramer, chief executive of NSA. “This transaction with PSA follows a thorough process overseen by our board of trustees and will deliver a meaningful premium to NSA investors and enable our shareholders and operating partnership unitholders to participate in the significant value creation upside of this combination.”

Both companies’ boards of trustees have unanimously approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to the approval of NSA equity holders and satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

Mr Boyle concluded: “By applying our PS Next operating model to NSA’s portfolio, we see meaningful opportunity to enhance the customer experience, drive financial upside and create significant value for shareholders over the near and long term as our industry emerges from the bottom of the self-storage operating cycle.”

News: Public Storage to buy National Storage Affiliates in $10.5 billion deal