Coherent Will Merge With II-VI in a $6.3 Billion Deal

Laser equipment maker Coherent (NASDAQ: COHR) has picked a winner in the three-company buyout battle that started in January. Optical materials specialist II-VI (NASDAQ: IIVI) gets the nod, sending manufacturing process expert MKS Instruments (NASDAQ: MKSI) and optical communications equipment giant Lumentum (NASDAQ: LITE) home empty-handed.

II-VI's winning bid will exchange each Coherent share for $220 in cash and 0.91 shares of II-VI. That offer values the target at $282 per share at Thursday's price for II-VI (though that will, of course, change as the buyer's stock price does). That adds up to a $6.9 billion deal, more than 20% above Lumentum's initial offer for Coherent.

In a separate press release, Lumentum noted that II-VI's bid was 0.7% lower based on Wednesday's closing prices for each stock. Coherent management insisted that the II-VI bid was superior in other ways.

Source Fool.com