Cubic Corp. Accepts Private-Equity Deal to Go Private -- Update

By Allison Prang 

Cubic Corp. said it has accepted a proposal to sell itself for $75 a share in cash to Veritas Capital and an Elliott Investment Management LP affiliate, the latest development in the bidding war for the defense- and transit-technology company.

Including debt, the deal will be valued at about $3 billion, Cubic said Wednesday.

The $75-a-share buyout offer is less than the unsolicited offer of $78-a-share that Cubic received from Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd.

Cubic said its board considered Singapore Technologies Engineering's revised proposal to buy Cubic for $78 a share, but said the revised proposal from Evergreen Coast Capital Corp. -- the Elliott Investment Management affiliate -- and Veritas was in shareholders' best interest "based on the superior certainty and anticipated timing of closing the existing transaction with" the two private-equity firms.

The $75 a share offer is higher than the recent offer of $72 a share that Veritas and the Elliott Management affiliate made earlier. That offer had been raised from $70 a share.

Singapore Technologies Engineering had also increased its unsolicited offer from $76 to $78, The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported.

Cubic, based in San Diego, provides tech products to the military in addition to transit systems such as the London Underground and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The U.S. and allied forces are among its defense customers.

Cubic shares were down 0.6% in premarket trading Wednesday.

Write to Allison Prang at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 31, 2021 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT)

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