Parker Hannifin Moves to Acquire Clarcor

Clarcor Inc. (NYSE: CLC) shares saw a handy gain early in Thursday’s session following news that the company will be acquired by Parker Hannifin Corp. (NYSE: PH). The entire transaction is valued up to $4.3 billion in cash, including the assumption of net debt. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of each company.

Under the terms of the agreement, Parker will acquire Clarcor for a total of $83 per share, representing a premium of 17.8% from Wednesday’s closing price of $70.45.

Clarcor manufactures mobile, industrial and environmental filtration products, and annual sales total approximately $1.4 billion. This company will add a broad array of industrial air and liquid filtration products and technologies to Parker’s filtration portfolio.

Parker expects to realize annual run rate cost synergies of approximately $140 million three years after closing through a variety of initiatives. Also the transaction is expected to be accretive after adjusting for one-time costs.

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Tom Williams, chairman and CEO of Parker, commented:

This strategic transaction is consistent with our stated objective to invest in businesses that accelerate Parker towards our goal of top quartile financial performance. The combination of Parker and CLARCOR is highly complementary and offers a great opportunity to combine our strength in international markets and OEMs with CLARCOR’s strong U.S. presence and high percentage of recurring sales in the aftermarket.

Chris Conway, chairman, president and CEO of Clarcor, added:

We believe Parker is an ideal fit for CLARCOR as it shares both our culture and our passion for developing solutions to our customers’ complex filtration challenges. Becoming part of Parker, with its significant systems expertise and stellar reputation for quality and innovation, should only enhance and accelerate our strategic initiatives and technology development efforts, expand our growth plans and provide new opportunities for many of our employees. We are looking forward to working together with the Parker team to ensure a smooth combination of our businesses and operations and bring these goals to fruition.

Shares of Parker Hannifin were last seen up 2% at $141.81 on Thursday, with a consensus analyst price target of $129.65 and a 52-week trading range of $83.32 to $142.15.

Clarcor traded up 17% at $82.66. The consensus price target is $62.00, and the 52-week range is $44.13 to $82.94.

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