Wall Street's M&A Chatter From April 10: Straight Path, Rent-A-Center, Harley-Davidson, Knight-Swift

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Monday, April 10, 2017.

AT&T to Acquire Straight Path Communications for $95.63 per Share in All Stock Deal

The Deal:

Straight Path Communications Inc. STRP and AT&T T announced a definitive merger agreement under which AT&T will acquire Straight Path for $95.63 per share in an all-stock transaction, for a total value of $1.6 billion, including liabilities and amounts to be remitted to the FCC per the terms of Straight Path’s January 2017 consent decree.

Straight Path shareholders will be paid in AT&T stock. Closing is expected within 12 months, subject to FCC review.

Straight Path Communications closed at $91.64, up $55.16.

Marcato urges Rent-A-Center's Board to Explore Sale

The Activist Letter:

Activist investor Marcato Capital Management sent a letter to the Rent-A-Center RCII Board of Directors urging the Board to commence a strategic review process to consider alternatives, including a sale of the company. Marcato Partner Shawn Badlani, RCII's poor financial performance is a "direct result of multiple years of operational and strategic missteps by the Company."

Badlani said if the the Board continues to resist a review strategic alternatives now, Marcato will vote for Engaged Capital's director nominees at the upcoming annual meeting.

Rent-A-Center closed at $10.29, up $0.69.

Microsoft to Acquire Deish

The Deal:

Deis announced it's being acquired by Microsoft MSFT. Terms were not disclosed. Deis develops tools for creating and managing Kubernetes containers.

Microsoft closed at $65.53, down $0.15.

KKR Seeks to Take Harley Davidson Private

The Rumor:

Shares of Harley Davidson HOG spiked higher as traders circulated unconfirmed chatter that KKR is seeking to take the company private. "Sources" say a deal could be made at $73.00 per share. Harley Davidson has been the subject of private equity chatter in the past.

Harley Davidson closed at $61.84, up $0.93.

RetailMeNot to Be Acquired by Harland Clarke Holdings for $11.60/Share in Cash

The Deal:

Harland Clarke Holdings Corp.announced it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire RetailMeNot, Inc. SALE for $11.60 per share in cash. The transaction is expected to close in Q2 of 2017.

RetailMeNot closed at $7.75 and traded at $11.60 after-hours.

Knight Transportation, Swift Transportation to Merge; Deal Values Swift at $22.07/Share

The Deal:

Knight Transportation, Inc. KNX and Swift Transportation Company SWFT announced that their boards of directors have unanimously approved a merger of Knight and Swift in an all-stock transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, each Swift share will convert into 0.72 shares of Knight-Swift by means of a reverse stock split. Each share of Knight will be exchanged for one Knight-Swift share. The implied value per share of Swift is $22.07, based on the $30.65 closing price of Knight shares on April 7, 2017.

The transaction is expected to close in Q3 of 2017.

Knight Transportation closed at $34.75, up $4.10. Swift Transportation closed at $24.77, up $4.75.