Cintas submits offer to buy uniform supplier UniFirst in $5.3 billion deal

(Reuters) -Uniform rental company Cintas (NASDAQ:CTAS ) said on Tuesday it has submitted an offer to buy UniFirst (NYSE:UNF ), valuing the uniform supplier at about $5.3 billion.

Cintas has offered to pay $275 for each outstanding common and Class B share. The offer price represents a 62.4% premium to UniFirst's last closing price.

Cintas had initially delivered the proposal to UniFirst's board on Nov. 8.

However, the uniform rental company said on Tuesday that despite multiple attempts to engage in a "collaborative discussion," UniFirst's board refused to meet.

"While we would have preferred to have discussions with UniFirst in private, this is the second time in nearly three years that UniFirst has refused our constructive attempts to engage on an extremely compelling offer," Cintas CEO Todd Schneider said.

Shares of UniFirst surged nearly 40% to $236 in premarket trading, while Cintas rose 2.6%.

UniFirst did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

The company and fellow uniform maker Vestis were in talks for a potential buyout by French workplace supplies provider Elis SA last year, before Elis ended the talks in October.

The Wall Street Journal had reported the deal earlier in the day, citing letters delivered to UniFirst's board.

Source: Investing.com