This is the closest we’ve ever come to a NSFW acquisition by a public company. Dick's Sporting Goods is picking up Chick's Sporting Goods, which is privately held. Dick's will pay $40 million in cash and assume around $31 million of indebtedness. There’s also a provision for an additional $5 million payout if Chick’s performs well. Which is probably another dirty joke in itself.
Dick's Sporting Goods Agrees to Acquire Chick's Sporting Goods [Press Release via Yahoo]
Sell-side M&A work is mostly a pretty good and lucrative business model but it has a few flaws. Try to spot a key one here: (1) you represent a target; (2) you spend your days fighting tooth and nail with the buyer to try to make them pay more and give up optionality, and generally to get more of the benefits of the deal for the target than for the buyer; (3) then the buyer acquires the target, fires all the directors and officers, changes the locks, and replaces the stationery; (4) then you get paid. Did you spot the problem? Carl Icahn did:
