Emerson Electric to acquire National Instruments for $60 per share in cash

Emerson (EMR) and NI (NATI) announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Emerson will acquire NI for $60 per share in cash at an equity value of $8.2B. Emerson already owns approximately 2.3M shares of NI, representing approximately 2% of shares outstanding, which were acquired at a weighted average price of $36.84. As a result, Emerson’s effective per share purchase price is $59.61. The transaction has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both Emerson and NI. Under the terms of the agreement, NI shareholders will receive $60 per share in cash, which represents a 49% premium to NI’s closing share price as of January 12, 2023, the day prior to NI’s public announcement of a strategic review. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of Emerson’s fiscal 2024, subject to the completion of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals and approval by NI shareholders. Emerson expects to finance the transaction using available cash and liquidity, including approximately $8N of post-tax proceeds from the majority sale of Climate Technologies to Blackstone announced in October 2022, which is expected to close in the second calendar quarter of 2023.