Mar. 11 at 11:21 AM
$CTAS $UNF
Cintas to acquire UniFirst for
$310.00 per share in cash and stock, or
$5.5B
Cintas (CTAS) and UniFirst (UNF) announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Cintas will acquire UniFirst for
$310.00 per share in cash and stock, representing an enterprise value of approximately
$5.5B. Cintas expects to benefit from the addition of UniFirst's talented workforce while also realizing approximately
$375M of operating cost synergies, including material cost, production expense, service expense and selling, general and administrative expense, within four years. The deal is expected to be accretive to Cintas' earnings per share by the end of the second full year after closing. Net leverage ratio at close is expected to be 1.5x debt to EBITDA. Under the terms of the agreement, UniFirst shareholders will receive
$155.00 in cash and 0.7720 shares of Cintas stock for each UniFirst share they own.
This represents a combined value of
$310.00 per share based on Cintas' closing share price of
$200.77 on March 9, 2026. There will be no separate or additional consideration for Class B shares. The implied total enterprise value of the transaction is approximately
$5.5B, which represents a multiple of 8.0x run-rate trailing 12 months EBITDA, including approximately
$375M of operating cost synergies. The cash consideration will be funded with Cintas' cash on hand, committed lines of credit and/or other available sources of financing, and is not subject to any contingencies.
Cintas has secured fully committed bridge financing from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc., KeyBank National Association and Wells Fargo Bank N.A. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Cintas and UniFirst Boards of Directors. Entities affiliated with the Croatti family, which control approximately two thirds of the voting power of UniFirst's common stock and Class B common stock, voting together as a class, have entered into a voting support agreement under which they have agreed to vote their shares in favor of the transaction. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of calendar 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, approval by UniFirst shareholders and the receipt of certain regulatory approvals.
