Mergers & Acquisitions Society Newsletter
Volume 19 — February 28, 2020
M&A Transaction Monitor
#1 T-Mobile and Sprint Merger Recently Approved by U.S. District Judge
By: Mac Costonis
On February 11th, it was announced that T-
Mobile and Sprint’s merger was officially approved by
U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero. The two companies
announced the deal back in April 2018, but had to gain
authorization in court due to antitrust laws in place. John
Legere, CEO of T-Mobile, will run the joint company
which will maintain its name as T-Mobile.
T-Mobile purchased Sprint for $26 billion worth
of stock, merging the third and fourth largest mobile car-
riers in the world today. The tandem faces stiff competi-
tion from Verizon and AT&T, boasting market values of
$242 and $280 billion, respectively. These numbers dwarf
that of T-Mobile’s, which including Sprint has a market
cap of only $117 billion. Despite these values, however,
AT&T owns the most subscribers of the three according
to 2019 financial results from Q2 and Q3. The industry
leader holds 165.9 million users, greater than T-Mobile’s
newly combined 137.2 and Verizon’s 118.7 million.
#2 Trowbridge & Trowbridge Acquires IntelliWare Systems
By: Tiffany Martirossian
On February 4th, Trowbridge & Trowbridge
announced it had completed the acquisition of Intelli-
Ware Systems. This is Trowbridge’s first acquisition
since Enlightenment Capital purchased the company in
April 2019. Trowbridge is a federal solutions provider
aimed at helping its federal agency clients thrive.
Through increasing safety and security, Trowbridge’s
solutions and expertise solve seemingly impossible na-
tional problems. Based in Fredricksburg, Virginia, Intel-
liWare provides technical solutions to its federal clients,
which include the Federal Bureau of Investigation and
the Department of Homeland Security. Its high-
functioning capabilities will allow IntelliWare to assist
Trowbridge in providing the most high-end solutions to
its clients. IntelliWare has a reputation for high-quality
service with a strong customer base, which explains why
it is the key factor of this deal. The acquisition of Intelli-
Ware will not only grow Trowbridge’s abilities to assist
in national security, but it will also add “a highly-skilled
Sector: Communication Services
Although formed 100 years apart, T-Mobile and
Sprint both targeted the telecommunications sector.
Sprint originated around the time of the first basic phone,
while T-Mobile emerged as the budding cell-phone indus-
try started to gain momentum. Despite incurring early
success, the two combine to $60 billion of debt as of the
merger.
It will be interesting to see how the move from
four major companies to three will influence the public’s
future subscribing decisions. While it was argued that the
trio will not dominate the industry due to other budding
providers such as MintMobile and Metro gaining increas-
ing market share, the predominant number of subscribers
will inevitably resort to the big three carriers. Product
differentiation will be a key factor in seeing who will pull
away, as unlimited data is already a commonly held fea-
ture among plans and opening plan prices are constantly
being driven towards all-time lows.
Sector: Information Technology
team of employees and a new customer base,” according
to Cass Panciocco, Trowbridge’s CEO. The combined
companies create a diversified set of offerings that mini-
mizes risk of single client concentration. CEO and
Founder of IntelliWare, Dominic LaPore, is also optimis-
tic about this deal. LaPore believes the combination of
the two companies’ dedication and strong technical and
operational capabilities “make this an ideal match.”
This deal launches the combined company above
$100 million in revenue, which provides enhanced credi-
bility in the government services industry. This allows
the combined company to go after larger government
contracts that each company separately would not be
able to go after. The financial advisor to IntelliWare for
this acquisition was KippsDeSanto. With its president
being among the WashingtonExec Top 25 Executives to
Watch in 2020, along with this first acquisition, Trow-
bridge has the potential of moving from a midsize corpo-
ration to a larger technology innovator.
*Disclaimer: all transaction values are subject to change
1

#3 Spotify Acquires The Ringer
By: Colin Walsh
On February 5th, Spotify announced that it will
acquire The Ringer for $180 million, followed by an addi-
tional payment of $50 million dollars. Very soon, Spotify
will disclose the exact parameters of the deal. The move
sees Spotify diversifying its offerings as a streaming plat-
form. It is already the largest subscription music stream-
ing platform. However, currently with how its deals are
structured, Spotify loses 65 cents out of every dollar
earned in revenue. With its music offerings, Spotify has to
pay approximately three fourths of revenue generated to
record labels, artists, producers and songwriters.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek hopes that this acquisition
will change the company’s trend of not being able to turn
a profit. In its existence, the company has only reported
two quarters of profitable earnings. Without being able to
renegotiate its contract with the record labels, Spotify
wouldn’t be able to cover its operating expenses with its
subscription fees from paying users or advertisements
from its free users. In the last year, Spotify has acquired
four companies (Anchor, Parcast, Anchor Media and The
Ringer) that produce podcasts. So, by acquiring content
#4 Apple to Acquire Tech Startup Xnor.ai to Improve Current AI Technology
By: Paul Kjornrattanawanich
On January 15th, Apple announced its pur-
chase of tech start-up Xnor.ai for an estimated price
of approximately $200 million. Xnor.ai was started
in 2017 by CEO Ali Farhadi and his founding team
at the nonprofit Allen Institute for AI. The original
goal of Xnor.ai was to produce machines that spe-
cialized in machine learning and image recognition
algorithms; goals that directly lined up with Apple’s
products. Xnor.ai’s most recent development deals
with facial recognition scaled down to be able to
work on low-powered devices. To this extent, Apple
believed the purchase was necessary for improving
its own current technology involving facial recogni-
tion, the cloud, Siri, and a variety of other AI net-
works in its devices.
The current state of Apple and its acquisi-
tion is somewhat inconclusive as it has tried to keep
the deal “quiet.” The specific details and financial
advisors for the deal have not yet been released. Ap-
Mergers & Acquisitions Society Newsletter
Volume 19 — February 28, 2020
Sector: Communication Services
creators like The Ringer, Spotify hopes to close this gap
with increased advertising revenue. In addition to the ad-
vertising revenue, Spotify hopes that its exclusive content
will also draw devoted listeners to paid subscriptions.
With renowned former ESPN journalist, Bill Sim-
monds, at the helm, the future success of The Ringer
seems viable. The deal ensures that Simmonds will work
at Spotify for some time and that his employees will be
under his jurisdiction. With both print and podcasting
opportunities for advertising, it seems as if Spotify has
added a promising aspect to its portfolio of subsidiaries of
content creators. The nature of podcasting allows for gen-
erous amounts of advertising space. The exclusive nature
also entices new subscriptions to its platform, which will
generate revenue as well. Hopefully for Spotify, the new
addition of a sports-focused podcast will allow it to tap
into a new demographic of customers not addressed by its
previous acquisitions.
Sector: Information Technology
ple released a statement saying, “Apple buys smaller
technology companies from time to time and we
generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
However, through reports from newsgroups like
Geekwire who have visited the Xnor.ai offices, as of
January, Xnor.ai has been in the process of moving
into Apple’s Seattle-based offices for quite some
time. It is also notable that through a statement
from The Allen Institute for AI, former CEO of
Xnor.ai, Ali Farhadi, will no longer be working as
an employee after the acquisition.
It is also interesting to note that Xnor.ai is
only one of the twenty or so start-ups to be ac-
quired by Apple in the last year. Apple has made a
significant move in the race for AI acquisitions in an
attempt to beat out competitors.
*Disclaimer: all transaction values are subject to change
2

#5 Accenture Agrees to Acquire Cybersecurity firm Symantec from Broadcom
By: Samil Jain
On January 7th, Accenture plc., a diversified global
IT services provider, acquired Cybersecurity Services firm
Symantec, recently rebranded as NortonLifeLock. While the
financial terms of the deal are yet to be disclosed, Symantec
was previously acquired by semiconductor provider Broad-
com Inc., in November of last year for $10.7 billion. Syman-
tec provides a range of enterprise security services: infor-
mation protection, endpoint security, email security, net-
work security, and cloud app security. Among other cyber-
security firms, Symantec is a part of Accenture’s recent in-
vestment within strategic, high-growth areas of the infor-
mation systems market. Accenture has a “commitment to
investing in and innovating advanced threat intelligence and
cybersecurity solutions.”
Julie Sweet, appointed as CEO of Accenture last
year, has cited reasons to reinvent the width of Accenture’s
supply chain. Notably, the current trend within the IT ser-
vices industry is to provide services to emerging technolo-
gies. Currently, Accenture has five industry operating
groups: communications & media, high tech, software &
platforms; financial services; health & public services; prod-
#6 Scape Technologies Acquired by Facebook to Advance Augmented Reality Capabilities
By: Hannah Jo
Facebook announced its acquisition of Scape Technol-
ogies, a London based computer vision startup, on February
9th. The deal is estimated to be approximately $40 million.
Although not many specific financial details of the deal have
been released, UK registrar House Filings reveals that Face-
book now controls over 75% of Scape Technologies’ shares.
Scape Technologies has created a positioning system called
“Visual Engine” that uses a visual positioning service, rather
than GPS, to achieve higher scalability in determining the
precise location of visual services. The end goal was to give
any camera-equipped machine the ability to interpret its sur-
roundings. The service is only available in London, but with
the funding from Facebook, it is likely to expand its availabil-
ity to other locations.
One significant change following this acquisition is
that some directors of Scape Technologies have stepped down
and have been replaced with executives from Facebook; two
Facebook executives have replaced Scape’s venture capitalist
representatives on the board. A Facebook spokesperson stated
Mergers & Acquisitions Society Newsletter
Volume 19 — February 28, 2020
Sector: Information Technology
ucts; and resources. Given its wide coverage, Accenture’s
acquisition of Symantec is a preemptive investment into the
increased need for reassurance when adopting emerging
technologies. Accenture prides itself on being able to attract
and utilize experts within a particular field, providing com-
prehensive global services experience. Symantec’s workforce
consists of 300 cybersecurity specialists providing Accen-
ture with a plethora of insight and experience into the field.
The cybersecurity industry consists of a collection of small
to mid-sized firms that - as an aggregate - provide their ser-
vices arbitrarily. Accenture’s acquisition provides a large
insight into the increasing trend regarding the consolida-
tion of these firms. Overall, Accenture is trying to position
itself for the rising demand for cybersecurity services among
businesses.
In the wake of 5G technologies, Internet of Things,
and cloud operating systems, it is clear the IT services in-
dustry seeks to cater for the future. The deal is set to close
in March of 2020; financial advisors and terms are yet to be
discussed and disclosed.
Sector: Information Technology
they “acquire smaller tech companies from time to time” to
enhance the features provided to their users. For this specific
acquisition, Facebook plans to apply the “Visual Engine” tech-
nology from Scape Technologies to add primarily to their Oc-
ulus division. In 2017, the social media giant worked with
Luxottica Group SpA to launch an augmented reality plat-
form. Facebook could intend on merging Scape Technologies’s
engines into their AR platform to strengthen it, which further
promotes Facebook’s headsets that use cameras to provide
tracking to determine the user’s exact position.
It is evident that Facebook is working to serve better
to its users in this digital age, thus investing more in Artificial
Intelligence by acquiring companies like Scape Technologies.
Facebook is also currently actively searching for AR experts
to fill multiple roles to help their users to better utilize and
enjoy their AR platform. The financial advisors to the deal
have not been disclosed.
*Disclaimer: all transaction values are subject to change
3

#7 Morgan Stanley Acquires E-Trade for $13 Billion
By: Jared Plattman
On February 20th, Morgan Stanley announced
that it will be acquiring the company E-Trade for $13
billion. E-Trade is a financial services company that
gives users access to an electronic trading platform to
trade assets like common stock, preferred stock, and
mutual funds, in addition to an online banking service.
The deal will close in the fourth quarter and is the big-
gest acquisition by a US bank since the 2008 financial
crisis.
In the all stock deal, Morgan Stanley will ac-
quire E-Trade’s client base of 5.2 million customers
and $360 billion in assets. Currently, Morgan Stanley’s
client base mainly consists of highly affluent people. As
a result, this deal reflects Morgan Stanley’s continued
efforts to diversify their client base and serve clients at
all levels of wealth. The deal will add to Morgan Stan-
ley’s existing 3 million client relationships and $2.7
trillion in client assets.
#8 Dialog Semiconductor Broadens Presence with Acquisition of Adesto Technologies
By: Michael Le
On February 20th, Dialog Semiconductor ac-
quired Adesto Technologies for an estimated $500 mil-
lion. The financial information was promptly released
with BMO Capital Markets serving as Dialog Semicon-
ductor’s financial advisor and Cowen & Company serv-
ing as Adesto Technologies’ financial advisor. Adesto
Technologies, headquartered in Santa Clara, California,
specializes in producing innovative custom integrated
circuits. On the other hand, Dialog Semiconductor is a
semiconductor manufacturer based out of the United
Kingdom. This is Dialog Semiconductor’s third acquisi-
tion this past year in an effort to expand their presence
in the Industrial IOT market.
The most prominent change as a result of this
acquisition is the role of Adesto’s 270 employees. It was
predicted that Adesto’s employees would face displace-
ment as a consequence of this acquisition, however, Di-
alog Semiconductor CEO Jalal Bagherli discussed other
plans. After garnering access to 5,000 of Adesto’s for-
Mergers & Acquisitions Society Newsletter
Volume 19 — February 28, 2020
Sector: Financial Services
E-Trade stockholders will receive 1.0432 in
Morgan Stanley shares following the deal. The deal
will help expand Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Manage-
ment franchise, which will grow from 20% of its pre-
tax profits in 2010 to 60% of its pre-tax profits. This
will provide the company with a more durable source of
revenue compared to the volatile Wall Street trading
business. An important aspect of the acquisition for
Morgan Stanley is the $62 billion in deposits that E-
Trade currently owns. This will lower Morgan Stan-
ley’s funding costs by $150 million on top of the $400
million in additional savings. This will help the firm
with their ongoing struggle in financing their wealthy
clients’ loans. With the acquisition of E-Trade, Morgan
Stanley will maintain and bolster their position as an
industry leader in Wealth Management. The financial
advisors to the deal were not disclosed.
Sector: Information Technology
mer customers, Bagherli seeks to utilize Adesto’s abun-
dance of skilled employees in order to continue to serve
their targeted consumers. According to Adesto Tech-
nologies CEO Narbeh Derhacobian, the focus of these
employees will move towards “connectivity solutions
and highly optimized products for building.” Adesto’s
technology, coupled with this newly established wing
of employees, allows Dialog Semiconductor to
strengthen their position in the Industrial IOT market
because they are now able to provide advanced cloud
connectivity.
With Adesto Technologies’ wealth of intellec-
tual property, Dialog Semiconductor will undoubtedly
expand its portfolio of industrial solutions as well as
add greater variety to their products. Furthermore, this
acquisition will cement Dialog Semiconductor’s posi-
tion in the Industrial IOT market because it serves as
an addition to their two previous acquisitions of Crea-
tive Chips and Silicon Motion.
*Disclaimer: all transaction values are subject to change
4
 Mergers & Acquisitions Society Newsletter
Volume 19 — February 28, 2020

US M&A League Table YTD

Advisor Rank Market Share (%) Total Deal Value (M) Average Deal Value (M) Deal Count
JP Morgan 1 15.2 $45,490.21 $1,819.61 25
Morgan Stanley 2 13.8 41,201.28 2,168.49 19
Goldman Sachs 3 11.6 34,777.98 1,580.82 22
Citi 4 7.5 22,570.70 1,410.67 16
UBS 5 5.7 17,045.00 1,704.50 10
Evercore Partners Inc 6 5.6 16,840.85 1,122.72 15
Lazard Ltd 7 4.5 13,520.17 1,502.24 9
National Bank Financial Inc 8 4.4 13,167.92 1,645.99 8
PJT Partners Inc 9 3.7 11,102.14 1,850.36 6
HSBC 10 2.9 8,791.00 4,395.50 2

Edited By:
Richard Imossi, Junior
Finance
rimossi@villanova.edu

C.C. Chatas, Junior

Finance and Economics
cchatas@villanova.edu

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*Disclaimer: all transaction values are subject to change