4 big deal reports: Altria-backed Cronos turning heads

investing.com:

Here is your Pro Recap of four head-turning deal dispatches you may have missed this week: Cronos attracts interest; Brookfield buys American Equity Investment Life, Thermo Fisher merges with CorEvitas, and Monster Beverage buys Bang Energy.

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Canadian cannabis outfit Cronos (TSX:CRON) (NASDAQ:CRON), in which cigarette maker Altria (NYSE:MO) holds a 41% stake, said on Thursday that it has received «a number of unsolicited indications of interest from third parties, each regarding a potential transaction involving Cronos and the third party.» The company added that it is in the «initial stages» of assessing these.

Reuters reported that fellow cannabis producer Curaleaf Holdings (OTC:CURLF) is among those interested parties, and that it has recruited a financial adviser in the matter, according to anonymous sources.

New York-traded Cronos shares moved erratically on the news before ending Friday's session with a quick 6.9% surge to $2.01. Toronto shares also spiked to close the week.

Private capital manager Brookfield announced Wednesday that had agreed to buy American Equity Investment Life (NYSE:AEL) for $55 per share, or $4.3 billion, in an effort to expand its insurance unit.

The cash-and-stock transaction will see Brookfield's listed insurance affiliate, Brookfield Reinsurance (NYSE:BNRE), snap up all of the outstanding stake in AEL that it does not already own. The amount represents a 35% premium to AEL's closing share price on June 23.

Last week, a regulatory filing showed that the AEL board granted Brookfield permission to build on its current 20% stake.

Iowa-based AEL, which oversees more than $70B in