After the closing bell on Monday, Weber Inc.’s largest shareholder, BDT Capital Partners, made an offer to buy the outdoor grill maker’s remaining shares for $6.25 apiece.
Weber’s
WEBR,
stock jumped 30.22% on Tuesday, outpacing the S&P 500 Index’s
SPX,
rise of 1.4%.
The offer to buy the 27.5 million Weber Inc. shares not currently owned by BDT Capital Partners represents a 24.8% premium on the grill maker’s closing pricing on Monday. Weber has been mentioned as a potential meme stock after being noted for its high short interest and small stock float.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Simeon Siegel said that BDT Capital Partners’ move makes sense, given the pressures on the IPO market.
Now read: Weber stock jumps 25% after largest shareholder makes acquisition offer for grill maker
“In what appears a growing (and understandable) recent-IPO-take-private trend, BDT offered to acquire WEBR for $6.25, just above our prior $6 target price,” he wrote in a note released on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets raised its Weber price target to $6.25.
Weber went public in August 2021 but has struggled with greater-than-expected losses amid slowing retail traffic, rising inflation and supply-chain disruptions. In August 2022, Weber announced a plan to cut costs and preserve liquidity.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Weber was considering debt financing from BDT Capital Partners, which owns 48.16% of the company’s shares, according to FactSet. MarketWatch has reached out to Weber for comment.
Could other companies see similar offers? Siegel thinks so.
Also see: Weber stock debuts with 21% gain, after disappointing IPO pricing
“With recent consumer IPOs broadly feeling public-market pressures, a WEBR takeout would not be the first, and we imagine it will not be the last,” he wrote.
The analyst thinks that fellow grill maker Traeger Inc.
COOK,
which went public a week before Weber, could be also a take-private candidate. “We have to assume COOK insiders are running the numbers, which would make sense to us,” he wrote.
Weber’s stock has fallen 49.34% this year, outpacing the S&P 500 Index’s decline of 19.21%. Traeger’s stock rose 16.47% on Tuesday but has fallen 66.94% this year.
MarketWatch has reached out to Traeger for comment.
