Minn. public companies involved in M&A deals this year worth more than $20B

There was a pause in merger-and-acquisition activity from Minnesota companies in 2020, but it was short and by the end of the year activity had rebounded.

Already in 2021, there are approximately $20 billion worth of deals involving Minnesota public companies.

The number of Minnesota-targeted deals was down in 2020, but the value of those transactions increased, according to data from Dealogic, a firm that tracks M&A activity.

"Dealmakers have learned to execute deals in this environment, and overall activity is trending upwards, which bodes well for M&A in 2021," wrote Philip Segal, an analyst with Mergermarket, in an annual review of deal activity.

Companies that have benefited from the pandemic are flush with cash, and the stock market rebound has meant public-company shares are even more valuable.

Here is a look at some of the bigger deals:

Mega deals, defined by Mergermarket as deals greater than $10 billion, helped the deal market recover in the back half of 2020. Minnesota had one such mega deal in the last 17 months: Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth's $13 billion deal ($8 billion in cash and $5 million in assumed debt) announced in January for Nashville-based health care IT firm Change Healthcare. It was the second largest deal announced by UnitedHealth and faces some close regulatory review before it can be completed.

Earlier this month, the Golden Valley-based food giant announced it would use cash on hand to buy Tyson Foods' pet-treats business for $1.2 billion. The unit should pair nicely with the Blue Buffalo Pet Products business in acquired in 2018 for about $8 billion.

As it focuses on building its electronic-payments platform, the Shoreview-based company announced a $960 million deal in April to acquire First American Payment Systems.